The Old Man and the Sea Review

Title: The Old Man and the Sea

Author: Ernest Hemingway

Category: A book you can read in a day

Copyright: 1952

Number of Pages: 127

Summary: The Old Man and the Sea follows an old man by the name of Santiago as he captures a giant marlin far out in the Gulf Stream and struggles for days to reel him in.

Review: I enjoyed this book in all its simplicity. I'm sure there is some underlying meaning behind it all but I enjoyed the story that was presented to me. An elder fisherman is down on his luck, hasn't caught anything in months, so he takes a risk and goes out further from land than normal. His risk pays off but ultimately ends in disappointment.

Next I am going to read Fifty Shades of Grey by E L James.

The back of the book states: When literature student Anastasia Steele goes to interview young entrepreneur Christian Grey, she encounters a man who is beautiful, brilliant, and intimidating. The unworldly, innocent Ana is startled to realize she wants this man and, despite hi enigmatic reserve, finds she is desperate to get close to him. Unable to resist Ana's quiet beauty, wit, and independent spirit, Grey admits he wants her, too -- but on his own terms.

Shocked yet thrilled by Grey's singular erotic tastes, Ana hesitates. For all the trappings of success -- his multinational businesses, his vast wealth, his loving family -- Grey is a man tormented by demons and consumed by the need to control. When the couple embarks on a daring, passionately physical affair, Ana discovers Christian Grey's secrets and explores her own dark desires. 

Eleanor & Park Review

Title: Eleanor & Park

Author: Rainbow Rowell

Category: A book you own but haven't read yet

Copyright: 2013

Number of Pages: 325

Summary: Park is a half-Korean boy who has felt like an outsider at home and at school his entire life. He doesn't have a lot of friends, he's obsessed with music, and he absolutely loves comic books. When he first sets eyes on Eleanor, he realizes that he is at least not as much of an outsider as she is.

Eleanor has bright red curly hair and is a little overweight. She wears men's clothes that are too big for her and pins ribbons all over to hide the holes.

The two share silent bus rides together, Eleanor reading Park's comic books over his shoulder. When Park realizes she is reading them too, he starts to bring her a stack of comics every day, and Eleanor always returns them the next day. Throughout these exchanges, they still do not speak to each other.

Eventually the silence breaks, mix tapes are exchanged, and romance blossoms. In the midst of falling in love, Eleanor has to deal with being bullied at school and a dangerous home life. She takes refuge at Park's house every evening until one day things escalate at her house, causing her to leave and not be able to return. Park borrows/steals the family truck and spends all night driving Eleanor to her uncle's house. Though the two are separated by several miles and Eleanor doesn't return any of Park's calls or letters, he never loses hope.

Review: Eleanor & Park was so surprisingly good that I finished it in 24 hours. It has been a long time since a book caught my attention well enough to keep me awake until 3AM.

This book was so well written. I feel in love with the characters and felt deeply for them. I laughed out loud, got enraged, and even cried a few times.

I loved the awkwardness of how Park and Eleanor's relationship develops. It was so hard to take at times but I just couldn't but the book down.

The only thing that perplexed me is that this is classified as Young Adult Fiction yet the F word is all over the first page of chapter one. Maybe it's just me but I didn't think you could say that in a book and call it Young Adult.

That being said, if you haven't read this one you really should. Let me know what you think after you do!

Next I am going to read The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway.

Amazon's website states! Told in the language of great simplicity and power, it is the story of an old Cuban fisherman, down on his luck, and his supreme ordeal -- a relentless, agonizing battle with a giant marlin far out in the Gulf Stream

February 2015 - Be Vegetarian!

First, let's wrap up January's challenge of drinking more water. I did okay with this. I didn't do as well as I would have liked but I finished strong! I had a few days at the beginning of the month where I was sick, so I didn't drink as much those days because I was sleeping....a lot. Check out my finished chart below!

Finished Water Chart

For this month you can either go 28 days as a vegetarian or you can go 28 days without fried foods. I like my meat and I like having it every day. I have even been told by a few of my physicians that I should eat more red meat, blech, but I'm doing it... So I am going to do the alternative version simply because I honestly don't want to give up meat for 28 days and I think my doctor would kill me after all the progress we've made lol. Meat is GOOD for me. Fried foods however, are terrible for me.

For this challenge, I am going to need a food log so I can make sure I don't pop any fried tasties into my mouth, and some awesome will power. I love fried foods so much even though they are so bad. Yesterday I had Allen take me to Burger King just so I could get some fries before I couldn't have them anymore. This is sad and pathetic...but it's true lol.

Here is the food log I will be using:

As you can see, I will even still be tracking my water every day! Just because January is over doesn't mean we shouldn't still drink 8 glasses a day!

I had my first test of strength today. Jason and Allen went out really early to get a Target only exclusive Amiibo for the Wii U that came out today, and on the way home they stopped to get us all breakfast. Allen, forgetting it is February 1st, brought me a hash brown from McDonald's. Oh man, I do love me some McD's hash browns. But! I looked at it, said Allen I can't have that, he realized what day it is, and he ate it himself lol. So at least the will power is strong for day 1.

So what are you going to do? Vegetarian for the month? No fried foods for the month? Or heck, are you gonna do both? Let me know!