I'm sure you can all guess what trilogy I am referring to! I actually finished the Fifty Shades trilogy way back in May, but I really wasn't looking forward to talking about my opinions. I still have mixed feelings about them. On the whole, I really enjoyed the plot and the characters. Downloading the first book onto my Kindle, all I knew about the series was the term "Mommy porn" and that there would be S&M. When I finished the first book, I was thoroughly surprised about how much I enjoyed reading it and how much I was looking forward to downloading the next one, which I did the second after I finished the first one. The characters were mysterious, the plot was exciting and intriguing, and the "intimate" sections weren't as scary as I was lead to believe. The second book was my favorite, but by the time I reached the third, I was getting more and more annoyed with how bad the writing actually was. The repetitiveness of various phrases, the frequent use of ridiculously placed SAT words (how many times can an author use the word "mercurial?") and the sixth grade reading level (peppered with the SAT words) were making it hard to focus on the story. Now, I don't claim to have any sort of qualifications when it comes to critiquing a person's writing style and I know the way I write probably won't get me into any literary magazines (I do love run-on sentences and flipping tenses). But I love to read and have been reading for a long time and I have never read an adult book that was written in the same style as the Baby Sitters Club series. I can honestly say that I hope the movies are better than the books, because the story itself is interesting!
Happiness
I have been reading The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin for a while, actually. It was an impulse buy at Target because I was drawn to the cover of the book. My name is Samantha and I do judge books by their cover. I have been reading the book quite slowly because I am thoroughly enjoying it and I want to take in all the advice that I can. I have been working on trying to elevate my level of happiness for many years and this book seems to be what I've been looking for. I am amazed at how much reading and research this woman did just to be able to put all the happiness knowledge available into an accessible book. I am practically hanging on every word this woman is saying and quoting and I am going to re-read and highlight the book so that I can really talk about the profound conclusions she has made and how much it has affected my way of thinking. Because of this book, specifically the section on friendship and how important it is to just "be present" and "make the effort," I ended up doing something that I would never have done, had she not spelled out the importance of showing others how much you care. This was a big deal to me and not something I want to talk about in a brief paragraph, so look for the explanation in a coming post :) Bottom line: I highly recommend this book if you are looking to make some change in your life.
Gymnastics
When I was in middle school, I became obsessed with a famous gymnast, Dominique Moceanu. I had this biography of her childhood and being part of the "Magnificent Seven" in the 1996 Olympics and it was filled with pictures and fun facts. It was a relatively short book, as she was only fourteen during the Olympics and it was a book written for young adults. I never forgot her over the years and in college I started looking up videos of her performing on YouTube. I think I spent hours pouring over various videos from the Olympics and other events. A couple months ago, when coverage of the upcoming Olympics was starting, I started looking up videos of her again. I found a very recent interview with her, talking about an autobiography that she had written called Off Balance. In it, she tells very personal stories about her childhood and all of her behind-the-scenes training for the Olympics, as well as how she felt during everything. And the biggest shocker: that she had another sister, a secret sister, that her parents had given up for adoption because she was born without legs and was never told about. It really is an incredible story and if you are a lover of gymnastics like myself, I would recommend reading this book.
