La La Land Review!

Guys I saw La La Land three days ago and it was so beautiful!

I don't think I have described another movie as beautiful but this movie is. I love the way that this movie was filmed. 

I love that the movie showed real life issues, getting a job and figuring out what you want to do with your life. It made the movie to me feel more real but I also love the non realistic parts in the movie. The scene where they are in the Planetarium and they just started to float. They were dancing in the stars. It was great. 

I made a list of my favorite scenes:

-The Planetarium

-The background was black and white polka dots and they were dancing.

-The pool scene where she asked him to sing I Ran. (I was laughing so loud.)

-The alternate ending

I love everything about this movie. I did not particularly like the ending but I enjoyed the fact that it was something that I could see happening in real life. 

I really love the songs and dancing. (I am listening to the soundtrack while writing this.) I can't wait until it comes out on dvd so I can watch it again.

If you have seen La La Land let me know what you thought.

Thank you for reading.

I hope you have a great day!

~Mariah

Jan. Book Haul (2017)

Remember when I said that I wanted to refrain from buying books? 

I genuinely wanted to stick to that goal but my library had a sale and I could not help myself. I paid $1-2 for most of the books that I bought from the library. I also bought one book full price this month and handful of books that I am going to show you today were given to me. 

After all that explaining lets just get to the books I got this month. 

First I am going to start with the books that I got from the library for $1-$2 a piece.

Brooklyn Story by Suzanne Corso was the first book that I picked up this month. If you guys have been reading my blog for a little while you would know that I was obsessed with the movie Brooklyn. I just needed another story set in Brooklyn.

My next book purchase was the Fill-In Boyfriend by Kasie West. I read this book this month so lookout for my thoughts on it in my wrap up.

I bought these next three books just yesterday and I can not get over the condition that these books are in. The 5th Wave still has the Target 20% off sticker on it!

I got the 5th Wave for the challenge of a bestselling book from a genre that you have not read. I have never read a book about aliens before and I have heard that this book is good.

I got this Agatha Christie book because it fills the challenge to read a book recommended by a librarian.

I did not get Shatter Me for a specific challenge. I just haven't read this series and I am interested to see if I like it or not. 

This next book was the only book this month that I bought full price. 

I read the majority of the Lunar Chronicles (I still need to read Winter) in 2015 and I am excited to read another Marissa Meyer book.

The next bunch of books I did not buy. My lovely mother was clearing out her bookshelves and she knows that I love Jodi Picoult so she just gave me these. 

Well those are all of the books I got this month. Let me know what books you got this month!

Thank you for reading.

I hope you have a great day!

~Mariah

Advanced Pop Sugar Reading Challenge

I just saw that there is an advanced section for this challenge. I don't know if I will complete this section or not but I thought I might include it here.

• A book recommended by an author you love-?
• A bestseller from 2016-The Diabolic by S. J. Kincaid
• A book with a family member in the title- The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards. (I don't know if this counts for this challenge. Let me know.)
• A book that takes place over a characters life span- The Name of the Wind- Patrick Rothfuss
• A book about an immigrant or refugee-?
• A book about a genre or sub genre that you have never heard about-?
• A book with an eccentric character-?
• A book more than 800 pages- Can I double up on challenges and say The Name of the Wind again?
• A book you got from a used book sale- The Giver by Lois Lowry
• A book that has been mentioned in another book-?
• A book about a difficult topic- The Shut Out by Kody Keplinger 
• A book about mythology-Love in the Time of Global Warming by Francesca Lia Block

Pop Sugar Reading Challenge TBR

I thought I might make a TBR for the Pop Sugar Reading Challenge. I might stick to this or I might not. I just wanted to write down some of the books that I thought would go with the challenges.

• A book recommended by a librarian-?
• A book that's been on you TBR list for way too long- Princess Academy by Shannon Hale or Magyk by Angie Sage
• A book of letters- Last Letter From Your Lover by Jojo Moyes
• An audiobook- Heartless by Marissa Meyer
• A book by a person of color-Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi ( I searched in Goodreads for books in this category. I have not heard much about this book so I can't wait to read it!)
• A book with one of the four seasons in the title- Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver
• A book that is a story within a story-?
• A book with multiple authors- Let it Snow by John Green, Maureen Johnson, and Lauren Myracle
• An espionage thriller- The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly by Stephanie Oakes (I am not sure if this is an espionage thriller but it sort of sounds like one..)
• A book with a cat on the cover- A Georgia Nicolson novel by Louise Rennison (I want to read all of them. I think I read the first two in middle school.)
• A book by an author who uses a pseudonym- The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith
• A bestseller from a genre you don't normally read- A Million Suns by Beth Revis (I don't read many science fiction/space novels and Beth Revis is a New York Times Best Seller. The back of the book said it was published in 17 languages! Wow!!)
• A book by or about a person who has a disability-I'll Scream Later by Marlee Matlin
• A book involving travel-Water For Elephants by Sara Gruen (Its about a circus!)
• A book with a subtitle- Stars Between The Sun and Moon One Woman's Life in North Korea and Escape to Freedom by Lucia Jang and Susan McClelland 
• A book that is published in 2017-?
• A book involving a mythical creature- A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
• A book you have read before that never fails to make you smile-A Georgia Nicolson novel by Louise Rennison (I remember in middle school just laughing while reading these so I can't wait to get back into them.)
• A book about food-?
• A book with career advice-?
• A book from a nonhuman perspective-The Bees by Laline Paull 
• A steampunk novel-Etiquette and Espionage by Gail Carriger
• A book with a red spine- Three Cups of tea by Gregg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin
• A book set in the wilderness-The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey
• A book you loved as a child-?(I am going to have to look through my shelves.)
• A book by an author from a country you have never visited- And The Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini 
• A book with a title that has character's name-Winter by Marissa Meyer 
• A novel set during a wartime- Frontlines by Michael Grant or The Zookeepers Wife by Diane Ackerman
• A book with an unreliable narrator- The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
• A book with pictures- Miss Peregrines Home For Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
• A book where the main character is a different ethnicity than you- The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie (art by Ellen Forney)
• A book about an interesting woman- Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult
• A book set in two different time periods-Passenger by Alexandra Bracken
• A book with a month or day of the week in the title-?
• A book set in a hotel-Thanks for the Trouble by Tommy Wallace
• A book that is becoming a movie in 2017-The Circle by Dave Eggers
• A book set around a holiday other than Christmas-?
• The first book in a series you haven't read before-Across the Universe by Beth Revis
• A book you bought on a trip-Brooklyn Story by Suzanne Corso (bought this on my trip to the library!)

There are a few that I do not have books picked out (the highlighted ones) for the challenges but I think this is a good list to start with. Most of the books on here I have. Some I will have to borrow from family or from the library. 

If you have any recommendations for the challenges that I do not have a book for please let me know.

Also Let me know if you are participating in the Pop Sugar Reading Challenge this year and some of the books you plan on reading for the challenges.

Thank you for reading! 

I hope you have a good day!
~Ma

My Goals! (2017)

I mentioned this in another blog post, or maybe it was a post on Instagram, that I love being able to plan. I have been trying to keep track of my goals in my planner and in my blogging notebook.

So here are all of the goals that I have set for myself this year!

1.) I want to buy a nice camera. I have been saving up for almost a year now. I need to decide which one I would like. I am thinking about Cannon and maybe the cannon t5i or the t6i. If you own a cannon that you love for photography and video please let me know what it is.

I have also been thinking about taking photography classes. 

2.) I think I said this last year but I really want to travel. At first I was like 'I want to go to New York, New Orleans, Ireland, and so on'. I was making this whole big list of places to go but I just don't have the money right now. I need to start small. I want to explore more in the state that I live in before I go somewhere else.

Start small, aim big!

3.) I want to complete the Pop Sugar Reading Challenge for 2017. I have never done a reading challenge like this before and I am excited! I am thinking about making a tab on my blog with all the challenges and when I complete a challenge I will write the book down. 

4.) I didn't read 45 books last year so that is my goal for this year. Along with the goal of reading the books on my shelves that I haven't read yet. I think I am going to set a goal to read 5 books before I buy 1. (I wonder how far I can last with that goal.)

5.) My last goal is to be less stressed. I was stressed last semester/year over money, time, friends, everything. I have to stop stressing.

Those are all my goals for 2017.

What are some goals that you have set for yourself this year?

Thanks for reading!

I hope you have a great day.

~Mariah

December Wrap Up 2016

Here are the few books that I have read this month!

Sculpture by Scott McCloud: no rating

I am not sure how I feel about this book. The whole time I was reading this book I thought: 1) "He's dreaming there is no way this is really happening to him." or 2) "This man is just hallucinating."

I really liked the art. I did not give it a rating on Goodreads because I have no idea what I would rate this. I liked the book but I also didn't like the book. The story just left me feeling kind of left me feeling unaffected by the book.When I read a book I either want to feel something. Throughout this book I didn't feel anything until the ending but I will admit that I would probably pick it back up again in the future. 

If you guys are unsure what this is about, this book is about how someone was asked the question what he would give for his art. The guy said that he would give his life. He was given the opportunity to sculpt anything with his hands if he took the offer but if he took the offer he only had 200 days to live.

After you by Jojo Moyes: 4 stars

I really enjoyed this book. I read Me Before You earlier this year and really enjoyed it as well. This book just left me happy.

For those of you who who haven't read Me Before You the book is about a women, Lou, who is let go from her job as a waitress and she is in search of another job. She goes to a place to see if there are any open positions in her town and she is told that there is a quadriplegic man who needs looking after. She is hesitant at first but eventually decides to take the job and her life takes off from there. Me Before You is amazing and I highly recommend everyone read it.

Let me know what books you read in the month of December!

Thanks for reading. 

I hope you have a great day!

~Mariah

What I Have Been Loving December 2016

This month has been awesome. My birthday was this month, I finished another semester, and Christmas happened!

I thought I could sum up some of the things that I have loved this month.

1) Relaxing- I have been so lazy this month. It has been nice to be lazy but I can't wait till school starts again so I can get back into a routine.

2) Chocolate-I feel like a lot of people, especially this time of year, will agree with me on chocolate being a thing they have loved.

3) Reading- I have not read much this month (if my wrap up isn't out for December already it will be out soon) but I have loved what I have read.

4) TV shows- This time last year was when I got hooked on Game of Thrones. I binge watched all 5 seasons of Game of Thrones in a few weeks last year and I did the same thing with another show this year. This year the show I binge watched was How To Get Away With Murder. This show is amazing! My sister came home from college for break, she has Netflix, and that is when I found this show. I watched the nine episodes that are out in season 3 all in one night. I can't wait for it to come back on in January!

Another show is one that I am trying to get back into and that show is Bones. I have always loved Bones. I just need to catch up. I am on the 8th season right now.

5) Planning- I am loving being able to plan for the new year. I am making goals and trying to get everything in order for the new year.

6) Family- The last thing that I have been loving this month is how much time I have been able to spend with my family. 

Let me know what you have been loving this month!

Thank you for reading!

I hope you have a great day. 

~Mariah