Classics Project Book #6 ~ Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie

Peter Pan
by J.M. Barrie
Blackstone Audio
Originally published 1904
ISBN: 9781441715494

Barnes & Noble

Downpour
Powell's

Peter Pan is one of several classic children’s novels that escaped me in my youth. As an adult, I’m trying to make up for lost time and channel my inner child by reading them. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz delighted me, Alice in Wonderland is on the horizon and I just finished an adventure with Peter Pan.

So much of J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan is especially for the imagination and feeling of a child. Peter Pan is the boy who never wants to grow up. He’s gay (in the classic definition), innocent and heartless. As a child, he has the magical power to fly simply by tapping into “lovely wonderful thoughts”. He has very little sense of time and virtually no long-term memory because he is too consumed with new adventures and being a boy. While children often struggle with the limitations of their age, Peter Pan, the Lost Boys and their new friends Wendy, Michael and John Darling demonstrate that being a child is something special and that adults are at the disadvantage of not being able to recapture the magic of their youth.

Peter Pan lures Wendy, Michael and John from their cozy home, teaches them to fly and they have wondrous and sometimes dangerous adventures. The characters of Neverland include fantastical creatures like mermaids and fairies that children only read about in books but here are children interacting with them in their own exclusive world. The children are pitted against the most capitvating villain of their imagination: pirates. Neverland is exotic and different and a place where your average adults are not allowed.

I think the enduring legacy of the story of Peter Pan is it’s ability to tap into a child’s imagination in the most direct way possible. The story captures their imagination, speaks to their hopes and fears and provides them with heroes that they can identify with.

I enjoyed this book as an adult but do regret not having read it as a child. Most of the fantastical adventures were lost on me and I found myself more interested in the tail ends of the story when we're in the Darling home.

I got this book as part of a free audio book deal from Downpour.com . They are a great alternative to Audible especially if you don’t want to do business with Amazon. The audio book was narrated by Christopher Cazenove who I think did a wonderful job. It felt very much like a classic story time narration. I wonder what an audio narration would sound like with a much young narrator. I think it would be even better.

Classics Project Book #5 ~ The End of the Affair by Graham Greene

The End of the Affair
by Graham Grene
Audible
6 hours 28 minutes
Originally published 1951

Years ago I remember catching snippets of the 1999 film adaptation of Graham Greene’s novel The End of the Affair. The film starred Ralph Fiennes and Julianne Moore and there was one scene has a permanent spot in my memory. It’s when Maurice Bendrix (Fiennes) puts stockings and shoes on Sarah Miles (Moore). He tells her he’s jealous of her stockings, of her buttons and of her shoes and it’s one of the most romantic and heart-wrenching scenes I’ve ever been privileged to witness (you can read the lines from that scene here ).

Fast forward to 2012 when Audible announced their A-List line of celebrity narrated classic and literary audio books. I signed up for Audible so I could download Anne Hathaway’s narration of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (read my review here) and Colin Firth’s narration of The End of the Affair. Both proved to be incredibly listening experiences!

The film plays up more of the love affair between Maurice and Sarah. The book stays true to it’s title and focuses strictly on the end of their affair. The story takes place during World War II in London. Maurice will do anything to possess Sarah. He’s a novelist who has more control with the imaginary worlds he creates in his writing than with real life. Sarah Miles is a gentle woman, in love with Maurice but still devoted to her mild-mannered husband Henry. Sarah abruptly ends their affair when in a moment of despair she promises God she’ll end the affair if only Maurice survived the bombing. Maurice doesn’t know this and is convinced that Sarah is having an affair with someone else. He hires a detective, reads her diary and is constantly obsessing over every minute detail of their affair and of her life.

“We are possessed by nobody, not even by ourselves.”

We as the reader are drawn in to Maurice’s story of jealousy and obsession. This novel is taut with emotion and we become fully enveloped in this beautifuly written yet haunting and dark story. The prose is magical, the characters feel real and the story is exquisite. Colin Firth’s narration is one of the best I’ve ever heard. He won the Audie Award for Best Audio Book of 2013 and it’s well-deserved (it was also nominated for Best Solo Narration - Male and Best Literary Fiction Audio). Die-hard Firth fans will swoon when they listen to this!

The End of the Affair is referred to as one of Graham Greene’s Catholic novels and religion, personal belief, tradition and atheism are all explored. The theme of religion becomes much more important at the end of the novel. I didn’t quite understand why this was considered a Catholic novel until I got to the last third of the book. The book is also loosely based on Graham Greene’s real life affair with Lady Catherine Walston as well as his own struggles with converting to Catholicism.

I highly recommend this book if you like beautiful prose with intense emotion. The scene I loved from the movie ended up not being in the book which I didn't mind. The movie played up the romance and the book focused on the end of the affair which seems to be fitting for both mediums.

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes 
by Arthur Conan Doyle

Mystery is a new genre to me. I have been looking for more cozy reads and usually people find those in genre fiction. My issue is that I dislike genre fiction like fantasy, science fiction and romance but having not delved into mystery I thought I might find a type of genre fiction that I would enjoy! My interest in mysteries started with the Charlie Chan films and then branched out into other films with other detectives (Falcon is a new favorite!).

The Sync program offered The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes as a free audio book back in August so I thought I'd give this one a try. I enjoyed the short story format. I had read The Hound of the Baskervilles a long time ago and remembered liking it but I wasn't quite ready for another full novel yet. The stories took some getting used to. I was a bit bored by the first few stories but as I kept reading I found my stride and started to enjoy these mysteries. My favorites ended up being the last ones: The Adventures of the Noble Bachelor, The Adventures of the Beryl Coronet and The Adventure of the Copper Breeches. For me, reading mysteries has to be an acquired taste. It's not something I'll gravitate towards naturally. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes is a great way to introduce someone to the mystery genre. What better way to start than with short stories from the master of mysteries about the most famous fictional detective of all-time?

I listened to the audio book version narrated by Ralph Cosham. My biggest complaint about the narration is the fact that Watson and Holmes sound identical and Cosham didn't put too much effort into making them sound very different from each other. So if I wasn't being very attentive, I could easily confuse the character speaking thinking it was Holmes when it was Watson and vice versa. Cosham's voice was okay and I like how he did American voices in the Noble Bachelor story. However, I think someone else might have done a better job at narration overall.

What Reader Species Are You?

I saw this infographic online and thought I'd share.

This would be my profile:
Domain: Reader
Class: Book Lover
Family: Compulsive -
Genus: Book Cherisher
Species: Book Worshipper

I also have the tendencies of the following:
The OCD Reader
The Book Preserver
The Hoarder
Compulsive Book Buyer
The Multitasker
The Audiobook Listener
The All-the-Timer
The Anachronist
Delayed Onset Reader


Attribution to Laura E. Kelly . (Click to view at original large size.)

Visit Laura-e-Kelly.com for more about books, reading, and authors.

Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya

Bless Me, Ultima
by Rudolfo Anaya
Originally published 1972

Audible
Barnes and Noble
IndieBound
Powells

Oh dear. This one was a struggle for me. I really wanted to like Bless Me, Ultima. It's considered a classic in Latino Lit but I just couldn't connect with it.

Bless Me, Ultima follows the story of the young boy Antonio Marez. He lives in New Mexico and his life, his community, his culture is steeped in Roman Catholicism and the Pagan beliefs of the Llano (pronounced Ya-nu). The Marez family has just taken in the Curandera (healer) Ultima. Ultima is getting old and they wanted to pay her back for her years of service by taking care of her in her later years. Antonio learns a lot from Ultima and spends most of the book doing a lot of growing up. He struggles with becoming a man, sinning, the conflict between the Llano's pagan traditions and beliefs and the strict rules of the Roman Catholic church and all the death and grief he sees happening around him.

This is a coming-of-age book and to be honest I read too many of those for work as it is. I have a serious case of coming-of-age story fatigue. This book is great when placed with the right person. I'm just not that person. My biggest problem was being able to connect with what was going on in the story. I was raised religious so I usually connect with stories about religious beliefs or said beliefs conflicting with others. Whether the beliefs conflict with society, family members, work, life, etc., I usually can find something to identify with. I even love reading or watching stories about people in more extreme situations like Quiverfull families, polygamists, fundamentalists, etc. However, I was raised Protestant and I guess I can only really understand other Protestant stories. I'd probably have a similar struggle if the religion was Judaism, Islam, Hinduism or something else.

I received a free copy of the audiobook of Bless Me, Ultima from Sync, which is a wonderful online summer program that makes teen friendly audio books available for free each week. The audiobook was produced by Recorded Books and narrated by Robert Ramirez. Ramirez did a wonderful job with the narration. His accent and his fluency in Spanish made you feel like Antonio Marez himself was narrating his story to you.

I really wanted to like Bless Me, Ultima and I haven't completely ruled it out as a wash. The story was very interesting when it wasn't being drowned with flowery language or religion. Perhaps a future and more appreciative reading might be in the cards for me.

Added Note: This book was recently adapted into a major motion picture. I'm really not sure how they did that but I am curious enough to want to watch it now that I have read the book!

Unsinkable: A Memoir by Debbie Reynolds

This review was previously posted on my classic film blog.

Unsinkable: A Memoir by Debbie Reynolds
Hardcover
9780062213655
April 2013
William Morrow
320 pages

Indiebound - Shop Indie Bookstores
Barnes and Noble
Amazon 


In 1988, Debbie Reynold's autobiography Debbie: My Life was released. It depicted the often times tumultuous life of the perky and vivacious movie star who became famous with her roles in films such as Singin' in the Rain (1952) and The Unsinkable Molly Brown (1964). At the time of that book's publication, Reynolds was newly married to Richard Hamlett. Little did she know that more trials and tribulations were waiting around the corner.

Unsinkable: A Memoir picks up in the timeline of Debbie Reynolds life when she married Hamlett in 1984. Reynolds describes her tumultuous marriage to Hamlett, the messy divorce that followed, the rise and fall of her Las Vegas hotel, her daughter Carrie Fisher's emotional and physical problems, her relationship with her son Todd and the repeated disappointments and financial hardships she endured in trying to create a museum for her vast collection of movie memorabilia.

The book is divided into two parts. Part One follows Reynolds life from 1984 to 2011. Part Two kicks off at 2012 and dips back into time following her movie career from 1948 until 2013. It's mostly a continuation of her first autobiography but she does include plenty of information about her early movie career and her troubled marriages to Eddie Fisher and Harry Karl.

Reading Unsinkable was quite an interesting experience for me. Debbie Reynolds is very candid. Some readers might be a little uncomfortable with some of the things she reveals. I don't think I'll ever look at Tony Randall the same way after reading this book. But that very open and sharing nature is just Debbie Reynolds' style. Her personality definitely comes through, whether the writing is mostly hers or that of her co-wrieter Dorian Hannaway. Reynolds also makes some big revelations including the fact that she thinks her third husband Richard Hamlett tried to kill her.

Debbie Reynolds spends a lot of time in this book discussing her passion for movie memorabilia and how she treasured the costumes and props she purchased or collected over the years. In 2011, Reynolds was facing financial difficulties and after years of trying to create a museum for her memorabilia she made the controversial decision to sell the pieces at auction instead. The most famous piece was the white dress that Marilyn Monroe wore in the subway grate scene in The Seven Year Itch (1955). Reynolds spends a lot of time talking about the memorabilia, her attempts at creating the museum, her regrets and how it pained her to auction off all those pieces. She seems genuine enough but sometimes I wondered if she was trying to seek validation from her readers and her skeptics.

By Part Two, I wasn't sure if I would find much value in this book. Her stories were interesting and I was especially intrigued to read about her very complicated relationship with Elizabeth Taylor. However, one chapter into Part Two and I discovered the real value of the book. Starting on page 183, Reynolds goes back to 1948 to her very first movie and reminisces about (almost) each and every movie she made up until her most recent one Behind the Candlelabra (2013) in which she plays Liberace's mother (with whom she was good friends in real life). This part was the most interesting to me. She shares her personal experiences and memories from each of those films. This is what separates a biography from an autobiography in my opinion.

This book has its bias. Reynolds is not afraid to pass judgment on certain people in her life and with some of her over sharing I wonder what she is hiding as well. I tried to take most things in the book with a grain of salt. With that said, Debbie Reynolds is quite charming so it's very likely she'll win you over with her candid style.

So what do I really think of the book? If it wasn't for that movie-by-movie rundown in Part Two, I wouldn't have liked the book at all. That really saved it for me. I would recommend reading Unsinkable if you are very interested in Debbie Reynolds as an actress and a woman and definitely if you had read her first book. It's also for those of you who are curious about Debbie Reynolds' decision to sell her memorabilia and want to know her side of the story.

Thank you so much to William Morrow for sending me a copy of Unsinkable for review!

The Genius of the System: Hollywood Filmmaking in the Studio Era by Thomas Schatz

 This review was previously posted on my classic film blog.

The Genius of the System: Hollywood Filmmaking in the Studio Era
by Thomas Schatz
University of Minnesota Press
Edition: March 2010
Paperback
528 pages

Find the book on
Barnes and Noble
Powell's
IndieBound
Amazon

 Some of us are satisfied with enjoying films for what they are, entertainment and we are perfectly happy to leave it at that. But when we start asking questions, especially the hows and the whys, we need to evolve from being just an observer of movies to become well-versed and knowledgable film buffs.

The Genius of the System was originally published in 1988 and has since been revised with the latest edition released in 2010. Thomas Schatz takes a look at film history with two major constraints. First Schtaz focuses on the business of the studio system as it existed from 1920s through to the beginning of its demise in the early 1950s. Secondly, Schatz narrows his study to some of the major studios including Universal, MGM, Warner Bros. and Selznick's various collaborations with studios plus his own Selznick International Pictures.

The book is organized in chronological order, each section is devoted to one time period and each chapter within each section is devoted to one studio in particular. Schatz delivers an overwhelming amount of information about the studio system, an important time in film history .and I think it's crucial that the book be well-organized, orderly and clearly written. That structure and clarity helps keep the book tidy and makes it a lot easier to follow.

In this book, you'll learn about budgets, business decisions, the roles different people had in the script development, casting, filming, production and distribution. Different studios had different ways of doing things. For example, Warner Bros. was strict about typecasting and were reluctant to loan out their stars which proved stifling for many including Bette Davis and Humphrey Bogart.  Other studios and independent contractors depended highly on loan outs from big studios in order to boost their films with big names. Sometimes the movie business worked like a well-oiled machine: efficient and fast. Other times it dragged along and was plagued by excess and poor decisions. Deals, contracts and economic shifts changed how studios utilized their big stars and their small players as well. The Great Depression, World War II, the advent of TV and the HUAC all affected how the studios worked.

I learned a lot of interesting things about the business of filmmaking during the studio era. I learned that Universal focused on making horror pictures because they could be made with low budgets, partial sets, they could hide things with smoke and fog and they didn't need major stars. The focus of these movies were the monsters and in the end these films were cheap to make and proved to be both profitable and popular. That wasn't to say that Universal didn't have any big names. Deanna Durbin provided Universal with one box office hit after another and helped keep them afloat during a difficult time in American history. MGM's early history could be divided into Thalberg and post-Thalberg years. There are a couple chapters in the book devoted to the collaboration between Selznick and Hitchcock and it's very interesting to see how it evolved and how it came to an end.

While Schatz tries to keep the focus on the studio during a particular era, he sometimes stops to focus on a film in particular especially if it's story is a complex or important one and demonstrates the workings of that studio. Films spotlighted include Gone with the Wind (1939), Wizard of Oz (1939), Rebecca (1940), Notorious (1946), Key Largo (1948) and others.There are some plot spoilers but not many because the real focus is on the business side of filmmaking and not about the stories themselves.

It took me quite a long time to read this book because I really wanted to take in and reflect on the information I was acquiring by reading it. I highly suggest not reading this from cover to cover but taking it one section or one chapter at a time.

The Genius of the System  is a wealth of information and an absolute must-have for any film buff who wants to know more about the mechanics of the studio system and how that business influenced how and why certain movies were made. This book can prove to be a challenging read but if you are committed to learning about the history of film then this books is not to be missed.

Thank you to the University of Minnesota Press for sending me a copy of The Genius of the System to review.

This is How You Lose Her by Junot Diaz

I was at Book Expo America last week and couldn't resist browsing this Penguin truck. It was parked in the lobby of the Javits Convention Center and the books were being sold through McNally Jackson. I wasn't planning on picking up any books at Book Expo because I go there for work and also there wasn't a lot I was interested in. However, I really needed some reading material for the tail end of my train ride (I knew I'd finish my other book before we arrived in Boston), so I indulged myself and bought a copy of This is How You Lose Her by Junot Diaz.

The book has been out for a while and I really wanted it but was trying to delay the pleasure of reading it until it came out in paperback. But I really couldn't resist and picked it up and started reading it right away.

As someone who is both Dominican and an intellectual, I find that I am part of a secret club; a small subset of people who can really connect with Junot Diaz and his writing. His books are very special to me and I treasure them. I feel that being Dominican, I have another layer of understanding of Diaz's writing that others who are not Dominican do not have.

Being Dominican is unlike anything else. I know that can probably be said for a lot of cultures but something about being Dominican is different. I'm half Dominican, half Portuguese and was raised in the United States. Of the Dominican, the Portuguese and the American (heck even the Lebanese that comes with the Dominican), it's my mother's Dominican culture and heritage that I am the most connected with. It's the loudest, most passionate, most complicated and most frustrating of all the elements of my upbringing. Sometimes being Dominican angers and confuses me but I am still fiercely proud to have Quisqueya blood running through my veins.

This is How You Lose Her is a series of short stories about different Dominican men who have troubled relationships with women. There is one main recurring character Yunior, who alongside his ailing brother Rafa, appears in most of the stories. Dominican men are notorious for philandering and sex is a big part of being Dominican. While some may say this is a stereotype, there are too many real life examples in order to just cast it off as a generalization. I can point to my own maternal grandfather, Dominican to the core and none of us in my family know how many relationships he's been in nor do we know how many children he has had. I'm sure I have many more cousins than I think I do.

I can tell that Diaz is an observant and receptive person. He hits upon a lot of the struggles and emotions that Dominicans deal with. He gets what it means to be part of the Dominican Diaspora. When I was in grad school, I wrote a non-fiction essay about my hair. Dominicans have a very complicated relationship with their hair. My mother has always envied my more European hair because she has always hated the coarser more African hair she inherited from my grandmother.  In fact, I have never seen my mother's hair in its natural state because she is in a constant battle to make it look smooth and straight. What took me several pages of writing to explain, Diaz did in a couple glorious sentences in This is How You Lose Her. That is what is so brilliant about Diaz's writing. He conveys so much with few words.

It's hard for me to talk about Junot Diaz' work without going on and on about my Dominican heritage and upbringing. I guess that's why I love Diaz' writing so much. It gives me an opportunity to really think about what it is to be part of the Dominican Diaspora that he writes about. Even though I'm not a hot-blooded Dominican man who constantly cheats on the love of his life, as many of the characters in This is How You Lose Her do, I still feel an immense connection to this book.

I don't think This is How You Lose Her is for everyone. Feminists might hate it or they might love it for its portrayal of various men who cheat and lose their women in the process. People might be turned off by the swearing or the frequent use of Spanish terms or Dominican slang. If that is going to scare you away from Junot Diaz's excellent writing, then you don't deserve to read his books. But don't fret, there are many of us around that will cherish his writing in your place.

Classics Project Book #4: The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins

The Woman in White 
by Wilkie Collins

I am very behind in my Classics Project reading. Out of 50 titles I have only read 4, eek! I listened to The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins some time ago but hadn't had a chance to review it until now. The audio book was great. It was narrated by Ian Holm who is one of my favorite actors. He did a wonderful job with the narration and the different voices and his voice suited the book very well. However, I struggled with finding time to listen to it. I only had access to it on my iPhone and had no way to listen to it in my car without blasting my iPhone's speakers. This  made the sound quite terrible and on the highway I could barely hear it. So I would mostly listen to it on walks. It was over 20 hours and it took me so long to read. I dreaded abandoning the characters so many times. In hindsight I should have either listened to it on a CD rather than an Audible download or read my physical copy of it.

The Woman in White is a well-written mystery with a terrific cast of characters. I especially enjoyed spending time with Walter Hartright, his love interest Laura Firlie and her spinster sister Marian Holcombe. And of course the mysterious woman in white, Anne Catherick. I liked all the twists and turns the story took and the writing was elegant yet very simple and direct too. It made me more interested in reading other novels by Wilkie Collins. Collins is a favorite among many readers I know who are fans of classic literature. I think The Woman in White would be great to recommend to someone who is not familiar with the classics and wants to tackle a longer read that will capture their imagination.

I plan to read this again and to allow myself more time to read big chunks of it rather than it little snippets. It really took away from the experience. When I do read it again, I want to do a more thorough review!

Richard Blanco Reads "One Day" at the 2013 Presidential Inauguration

I was really impressed with Cuban-American poet Richard Blanco and his original poem "One Day" which he wrote and read for the 2013 Presidential Inauguration. I heard an interview on NPR with him and was really impressed at how thoughtful, eloquent and receptive he is and all of this was made apparent in his beautiful poem.

I was really proud watching a fellow Latino read a poem at yesterday's inauguration. As a Latina studying English in undergrad, I always felt like the odd one out. There weren't many Latinos in my program (in fact I only remember seeing two in odd classes but they weren't English majors) and the school's Latino/a association would send me a letter every term/semester encouraging me not to drop out of school because that's what Latinos do. Those letters still anger me to this day. I wish I would have kept one. I would have framed it and put it up on my wall as I went on to graduate from both undergrad and grad schools. Against many odds, I am a Latina, who got two Liberal Arts degrees and pursued her love of arts and literature.

Reading a little more online about Richard Blanco, I found out that he is an Engineer and poet. I thought this was an interesting combination in which he employs two very different sides of his brain. It reminds me of my start in Zoology (I was really good at Biology, Science and Math) but my switch to English. I could identify with Blanco and I am very glad he was chosen to deliver the inaugural poem. I'll definitely be checking out Blanco's work in the future.

Weddings and Movie Stars

Weddings and Movie Stars
by Tony Nourmand and Graham Marsh
Hardcover, 287 pages
9780956648723
$79.95
Reel Art Press
April 2011

Find the book on:
Powells
Indiebound 
Barnes & Noble
Amazon

This review originally appeared on my classic film blog Out of the Past.

Weddings and Movie Stars is a beautiful coffee table book available from the experts in quality photography books, Reel Art Press.

In June of last year, I attended Book Expo America, a big book industry trade show held every year in New York City. I saw a sign for a company called Reel Art Press, a small indie UK publisher I had never heard of. I thought I'd stop by their booth and check out the Kennedy coffee table book they had been advertising. When I arrived at their booth, I was pleasantly surprised to see multiple high quality classic film related coffee table books including one called Weddings and Movie Stars. I was about to get married in a few weeks and it just seemed like kismet that I found out about this publisher and the book. As soon as I got back home, I ordered the book and had so much fun reading it and looking at the wonderful photographs. Since one of my wedding's themes was Classic Hollywood, it was nice to own this.

Weddings and Movie Stars is a huge book! It is 11.75 inches wide and 13.75 inches tall and clocks in at about 7 pounds in weight (I measured it and weighed it myself). The quality photographs are a mixture of black and white and full color and they are gorgeous making this book total eye candy. The images are mostly from real life movie star weddings but also include on screen weddings. You'll see images from the Hollywood elite of the 1920s through to the 1970s with a few modern images. It ends with a somewhat odd tribute to The Graduate (1967) which I think they could have done without.

The photographs in this book are stunning. Some take up a single page or fill up a two page spread. Other pages have a couple images on one page. Basically what I am trying to say is that these are big luscious pictures that you will want to look at over and over again. Each photograph comes with captions which provide detail information about the couple and the wedding. There are lots of great anecdotes and stories as well as trivia bits about the designer of the gown, the circumstances of the wedding, and the inevitable quips about the various divorces that followed.

This book is $79.95 which is quite pricey but Weddings and Movie Stars is a collector's piece and worth the investment. This would make a really nice gift for a new bride especially one like myself who appreciates the style of the 20th century. It would also make for a great addition to anyone's coffee table. When storing it, lay it flat on its back or spine side down if you are putting in a book case, make sure it's spine side down. I made the mistake of putting the book on a book shelf sideways with the spine up and the heavy pages pulled at the spine ripping it a bit. It's a heavy book so make sure you take care of it!

They listed Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz as getting married in 1930 when the correct year was 1940. Oops! Also there are several non-movie star weddings including all the members of the Beatles but for the most part it sticks to actors and actresses.

You may not find Weddings and Movie Stars at your local bookstore but you can find it online at various bookstores and for sale at Reel Art Press.

Goodreads 2013 Reading Challenge

2013 Reading Challenge

Raquel has read 0 books toward her goal of 75 books.

hide

0 of 75 (0%)

view books

Every year, I wake up on New Years day and set my next yearly reading challenge on Goodreads. I get so excited to do this and to think of all the books I'll be reading throughout the year. This year I set a challenge of 75. That was my challenge last year too but I had to drop it down to 60. Wedding planning, the actual wedding and honeymoon ate up a lot of potential reading time (although I did read two books during my honeymoon). This year I don't have any major things to plan, except for buying a house, so I hope I'll have more time to devote to reading.

I love following the reading challenge widget on Goodreads as the year progresses. It lets you know how far along you are and if you are ahead based on number of books set and time of year or if you are behind. Whenever I'm behind, it's good motivation to get reading and add some more books to the list. I'm so glad that Goodreads came up with this idea!

I have three chunksters from 2012 to finish which will count towards my 2013 list but otherwise it'll be all new books.

What's your reading challenge for 2013?