Rain, rain, go away...

...come again some other day -- perhaps a day when I am off work and can enjoy the delightful lull of your soft pattering on my windows. A day when I can curl up in a blanket with a book and a cup of coffee.

Cliche though it may be, my favorite rainy day activity truly is reading.  If I'm to be completely honest, my favorite any-day activity is probably reading, as well, but for the sake of the introduction to this post, we're focusing on a few of my rainy-day recommended reads. These are books I've read recently that I could not put down once I opened them, and thus they were devoured in a day's time. Click on the links below the books to open their respective GoodReads pages if you want to check out their synopses.

Anna and the French Kiss

While scrolling through one of my favorite bookworm-fabulous Tumblrs, I stumbled across a post that advertised this eBook for a one-day-only price of $2.99. I checked out the synopsis on GoodReads and decided it was worth a shot. This book made me laugh, and though it didn't make me cry, there were some heartstring-tugging moments toward the end -- but it was a fun read. Yes, it's your stereotypical YA romance novel formula -- boy meets girl, boy and girl like each other but there are circumstances that get in the way, etc. -- but the characters were more realistically written (at least in my opinion) than they normally are in these types of books. They have more depth because none of them are perfect, all of them have problems, and they have conversations to get to know each other.

Flat-Out Love

Man, oh, man. I adored this book. One of my lovely friends recommended it to me, and I snagged the eBook right away. At first, the writing and the dialogue come off a little strong -- I thought that Jessica Park was trying a bit too hard to make her teenage characters sound witty and intelligent -- but then farther into the book, I couldn't possibly imagine the characters (that I had gotten to know and utterly adore) speaking any other way. I had tears rolling down my cheeks by the time I finished. 

Weird Things Customers Say in Bookshops

Last (but definitely not least) is the book that I highly recommend to anyone anywhere who has ever in their life worked in the book industry. When I regale my mother, husband, or friends with work stories involving customers and the questions they ask, I am always encouraged to document them so that I may compile them into a book at a later date. Looks like someone beat me to it, ha! In this magical book, you will find clueless customer classics such as, "Did Anne Frank ever write a sequel?" and "I read a book about thirty years ago. It had a green cover. Do you have it?" and "Can I return this once I've read it? Why isn't there a place where I can do that?"  It is simultaneously hilarious and sad. If I hadn't worked in the book industry for nearly four years, I would suspect that some of the scenarios in this book are made up... but I am living proof that these questions are actually asked every single day by readers and non-readers alike.

If you have any book recommendations for me, hit me up in the comments -- unless it's that Fifty Shades (or Fifty Shades inspired) crap, because then I'd be forced to advise you to go get properly laid.

Mixtape Monday #2: Soundtracks

Anyone who knows me knows that I am a sucker for well-placed music in other forms of media -- TV shows (I'm looking at you, Scrubs), movies, commercials, whatever. I adore music, and I am ten times more likely to like a mediocre film with a phenomenal soundtrack than I am to like a phenomenal film with a mediocre soundtrack. I've learned that there are very few instances in which amazing movies are produced with amazing soundtracks...

Tracks 1, 2, & 3 are from Almost Famous, which is my favorite movie of all time. I could write an entire blog post on how beautiful and perfect the movie is, but I'll spare you (for now). The music is phenomenal and it makes my heart physically ache for a time period in which I was never alive.

Penny Lane is my spirit animal.

Tracks 4 & 5 are the opening and closing tracks from [500] Days of Summer, which is the best not a love story I've ever seen. It lured me into a different sort of music scene by tempting me with classics by The Smiths and Hall & Oates, and then it tricked me by making me love a song by an artist who otherwise annoys the hell out of me (*cough* Regina Spektor *cough*). Well-played, guys. Well-played.

Tom & Summer love vinyl ♥

Tracks 6 & 7 are the opening and closing tracks from Juno. Who doesn't love smart-mouthed, knocked-up sixteen year old Juno? I'm pretty sure this soundtrack didn't leave my car's CD player for four months. Special mention to Kimya Dawson's "Loose Lips" for being an especially fun sing-along song. Broken hearts hurt but they make us strong.

Also, why is Ellen Page always so freakin' cute?

Tracks 8 & 9 are from Love Actually, my second favorite movie of all time! "Jump (For My Love)" makes me laugh out loud to myself every single time -- if you've ever seen this movie, you'll know why (and if you've never seen this movie, what are you waiting for?!) ...

"Just in cases."

Track 10 is sort of a bonus -- it's from Disney's Hercules and I jam out every time it plays on my iPod. Megara wins the sassy Disney gal contest, hands-down.

Bitch, please. I have the most fabulous hair, too.

I wrapped this one up before I was ready, so prepare yourselves for part two sometime in the future.

Do you have a favorite movie musical moment?  Hit me up in the comments or make a mix of your own and drop me a link!

Feeling less than magical.

A Softer World gets it right every. single. time.

Remember the time…

…you first heard the voice of the adorable little boy who would later be crowned the undisputed “King of Pop”?

…you saw the “Thriller” video premiered world-wide, forever revolutionizing the definition of ‘music video’? Remember the controversy that surrounded it?

…you tried to do the Moonwalk on your kitchen floor? Remember the rush you felt the first time you got it right? Remember the time you tried to do the ‘Smooth Criminal’ lean and nearly ended up flat on your face?

…you heard the single that you knew would forever be your favorite? What was it?

…his hair caught on fire while he was shooting that Pepsi commercial and the media flocked all over it?

…you watched his live broadcast from Neverland Ranch and he begged the public to stop treating him like a criminal? Remember crying for him during those dark years of his career and vehemently defending him against ignorant snarks from your peers who were looking for a cheap laugh?

…that he fought to overcome the evil of greed and lies that had sullied his reputation, and he just kept singing anyway -- Album after album of the brilliance we had come to expect from him.

…you heard that we had lost our beloved Michael? Do you remember where you were when you heard? Who you were with? Were you there to watch the headline on CNN fade in transition from “Michael Jackson hospitalized due to cardiac arrest” to something much more terrible?

Who did you tell? Which song did you play first as a tribute? Did you cry? Did you share stories with your friends or post on message boards? Did you glue yourself to your television, hoping desperately that it wasn’t true, feeling your heart sink when you realized it was, and worrying about his three beautiful children, his family, his friends that he left behind? Were you close enough to a landmark of his life to be able to go and leave a letter, a candle, a picture, a flower? Did you hear the hearts breaking around the globe, or did you just find your favorite album and turn it up as loud as you could?

Love him, hate him. Listen to him or don’t.
Criticize him for whatever you think he did or didn’t do right, but right now is not the time for your negativity, if that is what you choose to bring to this discussion.

No matter your opinion, no matter my opinion, Michael Joseph Jackson changed the way we listened to music. He changed the way we danced. He changed the way we watched music videos and he broke the race barrier on several levels. Those truths are undeniable.

The world has lost its most revolutionary and ground-breaking entertainer of all time.

The King is dead...

... and I am having a very, very tough time dealing with that.


Rest in Peace, Michael Joseph Jackson.