Summer Reading

When I have writer's block, I normally check out some of my favorite bloggers, and get inspiration from them. This post was inspired by the Young Southern Prep (who unfortunately no longer posts, but she still has a wealth of ideas and her blog is very fun to browse through). I am a huge reader, and I have always been. I feel like I have read every possible interesting book in my local library branch, so when I got my kindle a few years ago, I was able to read so many more books than I would have ever bought online or in a store. However, I still love reading books (real books) but sometimes, when I do not want to make the trip to the bookstore or the library, I indulge myself in a cheap ($0.99-3.99) book for the day. This summer I have read some terribly boring books, and some books I loved. Here are some of my summer reads.

Hands-down the best book that I have read this summer. After going to the Dominican Republic and having my first overseas service mission, reading about this both reminded me of the connections that I had made in the DR and inspired me. I simply could not put this book down.

I loved this book! I highly recommend. It really transported me to a different world and time.

Kind of a mashup of the Hunger Games and the Bachelor. A girl from a lower faction of society gets chosen to compete for the love of the Prince. As a Bachelor enthusiast and a love of all things royal, this was right up my alley. The book is the first in a trilogy.

This summer I had a Lauren Weisberger addiction. I read three of her books and loved them all. Her style of writing is very captivating and she really takes you into the world of New York City's most elite. (I also watched the DWP movie on the way to Venice, which I loved!) Read anything of hers and you will love it. Not even exaggerating.

I picked up this book in Heathrow on the way home from London, and finished it on the plane home. This book is a tell-all on the fashion journalism industry (and especially on Vogue) as told by the fired  Editor-in-Chief of Australian Vogue. As a person who loves all things fashion journalism, I ate this up.

I'm pretty sure that I talked about this book earlier this summer, but it was such a good read! Mary Kay Andrews is the queen of beach reads. 

I still have to finish two books for school-mandated summer reading, but I feel like when you are assigned a book to read it isn't nearly as fun! 

Good reading,

Five Things

1. I read the Sunday Styles section religiously. I read every article and look forward to it every week. It's really amazing. Because I am fascinated with advice columns, love stories, fashion, and New York City, there's no better option (except perhaps living there, and working for the paper itself?).

2. I love having nothing planned on the weekends. A day where I can make a lazy lunch and read a book is the best kind of day. I am stretched so thin during the week that I covet weekends with nothing to do and no one to see. Does this make me an introvert? I dunno, but it's just me.

3. I use wooden pencils (exclusively), and sharpen them with my little sharpener. I don't care if it makes me look like a first-grader, I simply cannot use mechanical pencils. Everyone in my school uses "Sumo Grip" pencils but I think every one that I ever bought I broke within a month. I have a old plastic box filled with sparkly or princess or Halloween pencils that I have collected over the years, and replace the small used pencils continually. My math teacher (whom I adore) pointed me out in class one day, saying something along the lines of "You never really did transition into mechanical pencils." #true

4. The Great Gatsby is amazing. Sorry not sorry for jumping onto that bandwagon but actually I just really connect with it on such a personal level. I feel like I can be an observer just like Nick Carraway, and his oddness is really refreshing. And on another note, I love love love Leo in the movie. Love! And my love hate relationship with Daisy Buchanan is as real as life itself.

"All the bright precious things fade so fast… and they don’t come back." --F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby 

5. British accents are my addiction. Guilty as charged. So the fact that I want to study abroad in London really should not be very surprising. I love watching youtubers like JacksGap and Will Darbyshire for my weekly dose of British culture.

Cheerio! Hopefully more posts about ME in the future.

Kisses,
Kelsey