Spring is not "Springing"

I have to say, I am loving 2013 so far. I finally took the GREs and got a decent score. I've lost close to 10 lbs. And I can officially run for 10 whole minutes without walking! That last one may not sound impressive, but for someone who couldn't run for 30 seconds, that's a pretty big deal. My next goal is to run a whole mile. And then to run a whole mile in less then 11:57 (which was my lowest time in high school). If only my gym teachers could see me now...I'm also looking forward to a lot of traveling this year as well as making a lot of choices and decisions about my life. This is the Year of Sam.

Life of Pi by Yann Martel
I have actually been wanting to read this book since I saw my friend Jenna reading it back in sleepaway camp. I have no idea why that book stuck with me all these years, but when I saw that they were making a movie out of it, I knew it was finally time to read it. I still haven't seen the movie yet, but I've heard that it's beautiful.
This book is split into two parts. I have to say, I didn't quite care for the beginning part. Everyone knows that the book is about a shipwreck, a boy, and a tiger, but none of that happened until the second part of the book. The first half is all about Pi's life before the wreck, which I did like reading about, but there was a lot of zoology and religion talk and at times, it was hard to get through. It really was interesting, but I thought the whole book would be about the wreck, so I wasn't expecting to read about religion. But now that I'm telling all of you about it, you will be expecting it when you start the book! And I do recommend it. Or at least see the movie! It is a fantastic story.

                                                                            

Crash and Burn by Michael Hassan
I can't remember the last time I was this excited about reading a book. The day this book hit the shelves, I had Barnes n Noble put it on hold for me. Why, you ask, was I so excited to read this particular book? Because I know the author! And that made it so much more fun. Also a little nerve wracking, because you don't want to hate a book that was written by someone you know. Fortunately, that was not the case. It is a Young Adult book, which I was excited about because it is still one of my favorite categories. And it was a thick book! I LOVE a good, thick book because it means tons of character and plot development. Some of my favorite books were gigantic reads (Atlas Shrugged, I Know This Much Is True, the Harry Potter series).
So if you love big books and you love young adult fiction, then I recommend you read this book. It is told from an 18 year old boy point of view, reminiscent of Catcher In The Rye, except not annoying. It's about the relationship and intertwined lives of two teenage boys and how it all led up to a school shooting (I promise I didn't just ruin the ending!) It's funny, suspenseful, and interesting and I recommend you pick it up at your local bookstore!