Books That Have Made Me Cry

Disclaimer: I do not read weepers, i.e. books by authors like Jodi Picoult and about kids with cancer. Forget it.

That being said, here are :
The Books That Have Made Me Sob (Part 1 ... in a 10 Part Series):

1. Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech
Sobbing underneath an evergreen in my background circa 8th grade.

2. Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzgerald
This may be the first real memory I have of simply sobbing over a book.

3. Persuasion by Jane Austen.
Loneliness. Longing. Regrets. What's not in this book to cry a little over?

4. Holly's Inbox: Scandal in the City
(I suspect this may just have been because of how I was feeling on the day.)

5. Catch of the Day by Kristan Higgins

6. The Next Best Thing by Kristan Higgins

7. Something Blue by Emily Giffin
Read it a second time and cried again.

8. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling
Oh, Harry! Oh, Sirius!

9. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling
Oh, Harry! Oh, Dumbledore!

10. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
Oh, Harry! Oh, J.K.!

Possible Harry Potter t-shirts

Idea #1:
Front side:
That's what Hermione does. When in doubt, go to the library.

Back side:
Hermione is my homegirl.
(I already had a t-shirt with this saying on it, but it's AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!)

Idea #2:
Front side:
I solemnly swear I am up to no good.

Back side:
Something wicked this way comes.

Idea #3:
Front side:
Aren't you ever going to read Hogwarts, A History?
What's the point? You know it by heart. We can just ask you.

Back side:
I read it in Hogwarts, A History.



Other Ideas:
We could have all been killed--or worse, expelled.

Hermione, you're good on feelings and stuff, but you just don't understand about Quidditch.

I checked this out WEEKS ago for a little light reading.

Dream Emmy Ballot 2011

Best Drama
**The Good Wife
Friday Night Lights
Covert Affairs
House (it has been a very good season!)
Mad Men


Best Comedy
**Parks and Recreation (best comedy on TV right now with the best supporting cast ... and, yeah, I remembered about Modern Family)
The Office
Community
Modern Family
The Big Bang Theory


Best Actor- Drama:
**Kyle Chandler
Hugh Laurie- House (last year was really his year, but come ON!)
Jon Hamm- Mad Men
(Hmm... I clearly don't watch enough dramas, so ... Timothy Olyphant and Steve Buscemi would be my other chocies, I guess, based SOLELY on what I've read, not watched.)


Best Actress- Drama:
**Julianna Margulies- The Good Wife (give the woman the damn Emmy NOW, please!)
Connie Britton
Elisabeth Moss- Mad men (fantastic!)
Piper Perabo- Covert Affairs
Mary McCormick- In Plain Sight
Kyra Sedgwick- The Closer
(Honesty, I'd be thrilled with the first four on the list ... but I think we can all agree that it's Julianna's win)

Best Actor- Comedy
Joel McHale- Community
Matt Le Blanc- Episodes
Steve Carrell- The Office
Jim Parsons- The Big Bang Theory
Matthew Morrison- Glee
(I left Alec Baldwin out. He's won so many times I'm a little sick of him.)


Best Actress- Comedy
**Amy Poehler- Parks and Recreation
**Courteney Cox- CougarTown
Tina Fey- 30 Rock
Lea Michele- Glee
(I'm torn between Amy and Courteney--both very deserving!)


Best Supporting Actor- Drama
**Alan Cumming- The Good Wife
Frederick Weller- In Plain Sight
Chris Noth- The Good Wife
Josh Charles- The Good Wife
Vincent Kartheiser- Mad Men
(I'm torn between Frederick Weller (who plays one of my absolute favorite characters on TV) and Alan Cumming, but I think I have to give the edge to Alan Cumming.)
[Side note: so far, brainstorming supporting actor drama has been the most fun!!]


Best Supporting Actress- Drama
**Archie Panjabi- The Good Wife
Christina Hendricks- Mad Men
Kiernan Shipka- Mad Men
(She won it last year and I think she has it in the bag for this year. Is it any wonder that creators the Kings call Alicia and Kalinda's relationship "the core relationship" of the show? The actors are fantastic!)
[Side note: The problem, I'm realizing, is that I don't watch enough dramas. Or at least, not enough dramas with supporting female characters.


Best Supporting Actor- Comedy
**Nick Offerman- Parks and Recreation
Aziz Ansari- Parks and Recreation
Chris Pratt- Parks and Rec
Danny Pudi- Community
Ty Burrell- Modern Family
Ed O'Neill- Modern Family
(I could fill this whole list with only actors from Parks & Rec and Modern Family, but if I have to narrow it down, I think the mustache should win it.)


Best Supporting Actress- Comedy
Aubrey Plaza- Parks and Recreation
Jane Lynch- Glee
Ellie Kemper- The Office
Julie Bowen- Modern Family
Allison Brie- Community
(There are about 10 other people I could name in this category, but I'm cutting myself off.)

Summer Plan 2011

Here's my annual "here are my plans for the summer" post.

1. Reread all Harry Potter books
2. Watch all Harry Potter movies
3. See HP7 Part 2 midnight showing
4. Read all the light hearted Jane Austens
5. Watch all the Jane Austen movies
6. Prep for my Brit Lit class
a. Vocab
b. Unit 2: Beowulf and Heroes unit
c. Unit 1: Medieval times
d. Prepare Hamlet
e. Find 10 more copies of Catherine, Called Birdy
f. Find 20 more copies of The Mousetrap or Three Blind Mice
7. Quality Learning seminar class
8. Children's Lit Update class
9. Weekend in Chicago with Kim and Ashley
10. SSR book recommendations for Language Arts 9
11. Work out consistently
12. Visit my sister a few times
13. Read Jane Eyre
14. Not spend too much money!!!!!!!
15. Family reunion in July
16. See my cousin's new baby
17. Pay a chunk of change off my credit card!!!
18. Hang out with Nicole once a week
19. Finish the book with Krysta and read one more
20. Read the books from my birthday
21. Read at least one nonfiction book
22. Watch Friday Night Lights
23. See Janet Jackson in concert!!!!
24. Go to Meg Cabot's book signing!
25. Sort out the photo album situation

Favorite Books of All Time

**I write this post yearsssss ago. Not sure why I never posted it. My guess is I wrote it in 2012 or 2013.

Favorite Authors of All Time:

1. J.K. Rowling
2. David Sedaris
3. Janet Evanovich
4. Deanna Raybourn
5. Meg Cabot
6. Mary Higgins Clark
7. Ernest Hemingway
8. Jennifer Crusie
9. Agatha Christie
10. F. Scott Fitzgerald

Of those ten authors, my favorite books that they have written:

1. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (gun to my head ... that's really the only way I could choose. And ask me tomorrow and I'll choose "Deathly Hallows." And on Wednesday, I'll choose "Half-Blood Prince." And on ... well, you get the idea.)

2. Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris (This may be the easiest choice on the whole list. All his books are brilliant, but this one is genius.)

3. One for the Money by Janet Evanovich (I remember when I began this series I thought they were the most original books I'd ever read, Stephanie Plum was the most original heroine, and Evanovich was the most hilarious author.)

4. Silent in the Sanctuary by Deanna Raybourn (but they are all gold. I've been saying for about the last year or two that she is truly my favorite author.)

5. Boy Meets Girl by Meg Cabot (but reeeeaally hard to choose!!! My favorite young adult book is probably "All-American Girl." Or perhaps a classic like "The Princess Diaries.")

6. Weep No More, My Lady by Mary Higgins Clark (I lied about #2. THIS was the easiest choice on the whole list. I have read this book upwards of twelve times.)

7. In Our Time by Ernest Hemingway (So this is actually a collection of vignettes, not a novel. If I were to choose a novel I'd choose "The Sun Also Rises" which ranks as one of my top five classic novels. But "In Our Time" was the first Hemingway I read so it introduced me to his style and his sneak-up-and- punch-you-in-the-gut- sudden-poignant-lump-in- the-throat-for-reasons- you-can't quite- understand style of writing, so it has a special place in my heart.)

8. Welcome to Temptation by Jennifer Crusie. (Easy.)

9. Why Didn't They Ask Evans? by Agatha Christie (Definitely not her most clever novel, but my absolute favorite. I think I prefer her "adventure" mysteries over her "detective" mysteries, if that makes sense. Best choice for a new reader is definitely "And Then There Were None." Definitely.)

10. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (No surprise there. Highly recommend "Winter Dreams," the short story he wrote first and later revamped into "The Great Gatsby." My second favorite novel though is "Tender is the Night."


Other Favorite Novels:
1. Rebecca by Daphen Du Maurier
2. P.B. Ryan's Nell and Will series
3. The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare
4. Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason by Helen Fielding
5. Persuasion by Jane Austen

25 Things You Didn't Know About Me

1. I took piano lessons for ten years while I was growing up. I hated practicing but now I'm glad my mom forced me to.

2. My two favorite activities as a kid were reading and swimming. My two favorite activities as an adult are reading and swimming.

3. I watch waaaay too much TV! My favorite shows are Glee, House, the Office, the Big Bang Theory, Covert Affairs, and the Good Wife.

4. I love to make lists and organize things!

5. I like to speak in foreign accents just for fun. Sometimes my sister and I will have conversations using foreign accents.

6. I graduated from the University of Iowa and bleed black and gold!

7. I have been best friends with the same girl for my entire life. We were born three days apart and were inseparable until we went off to college. We still live about five minutes from each other.

8. My favorite thing to do in the summer is go to the movies. I like to see good movies more than once and will see everything except horror movies.

9. I'm so bad in the kitchen that I don't really even know how to cut up a lemon.

10. My absolute favorite thing to do is go to the movies. This summer a few of my favorites were Salt, Inception, and Ramona & Beezus.

11. I like to read magazines while I blow dry my hair. My favorites are TV Guide and InStyle.

12. I spend most of my money traveling. This summer I went to New York City; Denver, Colorado; and Portland, Oregon.

13. I love board games (my favorite is Trivial Pursuit) and I'm very competitive! I make my siblings play with me whenever we're visiting my parents and I expect to win every time.

14. Since I was in middle school, my goal every year is to read 100 books. I've never made it. (I usually end up between 73 and 76. This last year was my worst. I barely made 40.)

15. I'm fascinated by languages.

16. I need to stop buying boots. I have ten pairs that I wear frequently ... and plenty more that are too uncomfortable for a teacher like me to stand in all day.

17. When I was growing up I wanted to be a flight attendant so I could see the world ... until I discovered that I was five inches short of the height requirement.

18. I am obsessed with the Today Show. I don't like to face the day until I hear Matt Lauer's or Meredith Vieira's voice.

19. I like scarves. I bought 12 on a trip to New York City last summer.

20. I love board games (my favorite is Trivial Pursuit) and I'm very competitive! I make my siblings play with me whenever we're all together and I expect to win!

21. I love to see plays and musicals. I saw five this summer: Jersey Boys; Promises, Promises; The Addams Family Musical; Lend Me a Tenor, and South Pacific.

22. After reading a book about Helen Keller in fourth grade, I taught myself the American Sign Language's manual alphabet. I'm still really good at spelling but not very good at reading it.

23. I could live without my iPod and my phone and I could probably live without my computer, but Icould never give up my Tivo!

24. I'm so visual that sometimes I watch TV with the closed captioning on because I can understand better if I can read the words.

25. I took gymnastics for years as a kid. I can't do handsprings anymore, but sometimes I still feel the need to go outside and do cartwheels.

Top 10 TV Moments

by Rix and Trix
(cause we're sisters like that)

1. Sydney, you've been missing for two years. (Alias)
2. Veronica and Logan kiss on the balcony (Veronica Mars)
3. Monica and Rachel lose the apartment to Joey and Chandler (Friends)
4. The finale of "Pier Pressure" ... it all comes together (Arrested Development)
5. "Two Cathedrals." Nuff said. (The West Wing)
6. The Christmas episode warms hearts all over Hollywood. (Studio 60)
7. Marian almost dies in the cave and Robin Hood gets all emotional. (Robin Hood)
8. Miranda's mother dies and Carrie goes to the funeral. (Sex and the City)
9. Pam gives her speech during "Beach Games." Nuff said. (The Office)
10. "They Shoot Gilmore, Don't They?" (Gilmore Girls)

Books Read in 2010

January:
1. Beachcomber by Karen Robards
2. Superstition by Karen Robards
3. Ice by Linda Howard

February:
4. Murder Is Easy by Agatha Christie
5. The Espressologist by Kristina Springer
6. ?? What else did I read here???

March
7. The Next Best Thing by Kristan Higgins
8. Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
9. The Cinderella Deal by Jennifer Crusie
10. When Zachary Beaver Came to Town by Kimberly Willis Holt
11. Strange Bedpersons by Jennifer Crusie
12. Charlie All Night by Jennifer Crusie

April:
13. Boy by Roald Dahl
14. Unzipped by Lois Greiman
15. Wild Ride by Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer

May:
16. Unplugged by Lois Greiman
17. Unscrewed by Lois Greiman
18. Unmanned by Lois Greiman

June:
19. One Hot Mess by Lois Greiman
20. The Shadow of Your Smile by Mary Higgins Clark
21. Not One Clue by Lois Greiman

July:
22. Sizzling Sixteen by Janet Evanovich
23. The Spellmans Strike Again by Lisa Lutz
24. Murder on Lexington Avenue by Victoria Thompson

August:
25. Insatiable by Meg Cabot
26. The Trials of the Honorable F. Darcy by Sara Angelini
27. The Dead Travel Fast by Deanna Raybourn
28. A Lucky Child by Thomas Buergenthal

September:
29. Being Nikki by Meg Cabot
30. Runaway by Meg Cabot
31. Finding Lubchenko by Michael Simmons

October:
32. And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
33. Maybe This Time by Jennifer Crusie
34. The Seven Dials Mystery by Agatha Christie
35. All I Ever Wanted by Kristan Higgins
36. Holly's Inbox by Holly Denham
37. Holly's Inbox: Scandal in the City by Holly Denham

November:
38. Pants on Fire by Meg Cabot
39. The Dark Road to Darjeeling

December:
40. Thornyhold
41. A Reliable Wife
42. The Cater Street Hangman