A Very Belated Blog Update

Hello there, dear reader, if you're out there. After nearly a year of letting this little blog waste away, I've finally come to a decision about its future.

When I started my first blog back in college, blogging felt like the perfect hobby. I was an avid blog reader at the time and the idea of starting my own little online record felt like opening the door to endless possibilities. It also allowed me to use all of my skills in one place: my love of art and design went into the blog template and my insatiable curiosity went into learning how to code so I could customize my layout exactly the way I had envisioned it. And best of all, I had always considered myself a writer, so starting a blog just made that a little more official.

But here we are, nine years later, and I'm glad to say that I've changed. I do still love to write, read, and record my thoughts, but I've found a real love for expressing myself in video form. I love the raw realness of sitting down in front of the camera and just talking, the struggle of pulling a cohesive video out of 45 plus minutes of ramblings. And I think what I love most about making videos is the wonderful little community that I've built up around my BookTube channel. Seriously, I put up a video for the first time in months just this past weekend and within the first few hours all of the comments were welcoming me back just like we were old friends. As much as I hate to say it, I never got that kind of community engagement here.

I guess what I'm trying to say (in apparently the most long-winded way possible), is that this is farewell to the book blog, at least for now. I'm not good at goodbyes or making big decisions, so I won't say that I will never write out another bookish listical or review again, but for now, I think any bookish writing I do will be migrating over into my Goodreads reviews.

And of course, if you'd like to continue to follow my bookish journey, I will continue to share that over on my BookTube channel. Hopefully, I will see you there.

Happy reading!

Social Ecology in the Digital Age | Daniel Stokols

TITLE / Social Ecology in the Digitial Age: Solving Complex Problems in a Globalized World

AUTHOR / Daniel Stokols

PUBLISHER / Elsevier Science Publishing Co.

DATE OF PUBLICATION / January, 2018

NO. OF PAGES / 406 

STARRED RATING / ★★★

These days, the news can be hard to stomach: racial tensions, poverty, pollution and global warming. War. At times it seems like there are so many problems in the world that we do not even know where to begin looking for solutions.

Enter Dan Stokol's new book, Social Ecology in the Digital Age.

Dan Stokols is a Research Professor and Chancellor's Professor Emeritus in the School of Social Ecology at the University of California, Irvine. He's worked in the fields of social ecology, environmental and ecological psychology, public health, and transdisciplinary team science. And in Social Ecology in the Digitial Age, Stokols offers up social ecology as a method of identifying, explaining, and facing the challenges of the 21st century head-on.

Broadly defined, social ecology is the study of environmental contexts and how these contexts affect the behavior and well-being of the populations which inhabit those environments. Here's one example: how does the neighborhood in which someone lives affect his behavior? Does it affect what kind of education or work he can get? Does his environment make him more prone to poverty or violence?

According to Stokols, the goal of social ecology is to resolve complex societal problems through ecological analysis, interdisciplinary scholarship, and community problem-solving. It can be used to not only identify and predict the potential health, behavioral, social, and sustainability outcomes of a certain environment but also to modify that environment to lessen the potential for things like mental and physical illness, poverty, unequal access to educational and economic resources, and interpersonal violence. In other words, the study of social ecology may be precisely what we need in order to develop more comprehensive solutions to the many problems we face today.

I think this book and its subject will appeal to readers from many fields, urban planning, public policy, public health, and sustainability, to name a few. If you are a student interested in a multi-disciplinary approach to solving the world's many problems, I anticipate you will find Social Ecology an insightful and engaging introduction to the field.

But if, like me, you are a less scientifically-minded reader, never fear.

For the most part, Social Ecology reads like an introductory textbook. It's got italicized words and phrases to indicate importance and each chapter is broken down into clear explanations of the basic concepts of social ecology. And yet it is still accessible, primarily because Stokols anchors the book in his own journey within the field. He illustrates concepts not only with experiments and case studies but also with personal anecdotes. In these moments the tone becomes more conversational, allowing the reader a quick breather before Stokols dives back into a discussion of the core principles of human environments or the dimensions of contextual representations.

This isn't just any old textbook. Rather, Social Ecology feels strikingly relevant, offering up a good introduction to the theory as well as clear examples of how the theory can actually be applied to real-life situations.

In sum, what Stokols delivers in Social Ecology is four decades worth of scholarly experience, distilled into a single, hopeful message: there is a way to handle the global challenges of the 21st century. Whether you are a student, scholar, or simply a curious reader, I think you'll leave Social Ecology with a new understanding of the ways we interact with our environments and how, in turn, our environments influence the way we interact with each other.



Disclaimer: I received this book from the author in exchange for an honest review. I was not paid to review or feature this book and this review is my 100% honest opinion. This is not a sponsored post.

Bout of Books 21 Wrap Up

I'm really enjoying my new, more relaxed reading approach this year. Not only am I officially ahead of schedule on my Goodreads reading goal (for once), but my first read of the year earned five stars!

Read
10% Happier: How I Tamed the Voice in My Head, Reduced Stress Without Losing My Edge, and Found Self-Help That Actually Works / Dan Harris

Currently Reading
I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and was Shot by the Taliban / Malala Yousafzai
Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics: A 10% Happier How-To Book / Dan Harris and Jeff Warren with Carly Adler

My Favorite Reads of 2017

I'll be the first to admit that I was surprised how many books I enjoyed in 2017. It wasn't the best reading year I've ever had (I probably watched more TV than ever before in a desperate attempt to escape reality), but looking bad a lot of what I did read left a lasting impression. Without further ado, allow me to introduce my favorite reads of the year!

Favorite Books
The Buddha in the Attic / Julie Otsuka
> the review
Born a Crime / Trevor Noah
> the review
Wives and Daughters / Elizabeth Gaskell
Days Without End / Sebastian Barry
> the review

Honorable Mentions
The Reluctant Fundamentalist / Mohsin Hamid
> the review
Where the Past Begins / Amy Tan
> the review
The Nakano Thrift Shop / Hiromi Kawakami
> the review

2018 Reading Goals & Blogging Confusion

Why, hello there. Long time no blog post!

As you can probably tell, I let blogging fall by the wayside a bit as 2017 continued. And if I'm really honest with you guys, I'm at a little bit of a loss of what to do with this blog.

On one hand, I love blogging. I started my first blog way back in 2010 to chronicle my college experience and have always found it to be almost therapeutic, a bit like keeping a journal that other people can read. When it comes to this blog, I've really enjoyed sharing discussions and reviews here as sometimes it's just easier to share thoughts in written form.

On the other hand, I've been struggling with the "one-sidedness" of blogging for a while now. I've never gotten much interaction here on the blog, which I know is partly my fault. I don't promote it nearly as much as I do my YouTube channel and I'm sure the fact that I'm still using Blogger and not a more popular and social site like Wordpress doesn't help. I've toyed with the idea of making a new website that can serve as a catch-all for my videos and blog posts but find myself incredibly intimidated by the very thought.

Another thing I really struggle with is reserving ideas for blog posts. About 99% of the time, if I come up with an idea I think is actually worth sharing, I automatically start planning a video on the topic. Once upon a time, I would have worked my thoughts into a blog post, but that is no longer my preferred mode of expression. I love the free-form nature of filming, the way I can just word vomit at my camera and edit into something cohesive and interesting later.

Over the past year especially, I feel like I've really come into my own in my videos. At the same time, I feel like I've been stuck as a blogger for a long time now.

In short, I'm a little unsure of how I plan to proceed with this blog.

For the time being, it'll be business as usual, meaning I'll continue sharing my videos and written reviews. However, I'm going to have to do some serious thinking about where I'd like to see this blog go in the future. If you have any thoughts or opinions you'd like to share on the subject, I'd greatly appreciate the help in sorting out my options.

Thanks and Happy New Years!

A #Victober Wrap Up

As a longtime reader, it's always hard to admit that you picked out books that you didn't end up enjoying. Unfortunately, that was the story of my October!

Books Read:

The Professor / Charlotte Brontë
Great Expectations / Charles Dickens
Where the Past Begins: A Writer's Memoir / Amy Tan
> Read the review

Currently Reading:

Social Ecology in the Digital Age: Solving Complex Problems in a Globalized World / Daniel Stokols

My #NonFictionNovember TBR

I'm definitely having a bit of a moment with non-fiction this year, so to say that I'm super excited for #NonFictionNovember would be a massive understatement. What kind of non-fiction are you going to be reading this month?

Books Mentioned:
Goodbye to All That / Robert Graves
An American Family / Khizr Khan
Are You My Mother? / Alison Bechdel
Five Came Back / Mark Harris
Code Talker / Chester Nez
What Happened / Hillary Rodham Clinton

How to Get More into Reading

Not everyone is born a book lover, but I personally believe that everyone can learn to be an avid reader and book lover. Reading is like any exercise; the more you practice, the easier and more enjoyable it becomes. Hopefully, these tips will help you with that practice!

The TBR Tag

Just in case you didn't already know that I like lists and organization, I decided to do the TBR Tag to prove it!


The Questions:
1) How do you keep track of your TBR pile?
2) Is your TBR mostly print or ebook?
3) How do you determine which book from your TBR to read next?
4) A book that's been on your TBR the longest
5) A book you recently added to your TBR
6) A book on your TBR strictly because of its beautiful cover
7) A book on your TBR that you never plan on reading
8) An unpublished book on your TBR that you're excited for
9) A book on your TBR that basically everyone's read but you
10) A book on your TBR that everyone recommends to you
11) A book on your TBR that you're dying to read
12) How many books are on your Goodeads TBR shelf?

A Bit of an Escape | Friday Reads

This week has been... well, let's just say I'm super glad it's Friday. I think I've made the massive mental health mistake of being overly attached to my phone and to the news this week and it's made me a little tense. So with my reading this weekend, I'm really looking forward to escaping from reality, even if it's just for a little while.

Beren and Lúthien / J.R.R. Tolkien
Look what I managed to find at the library! Beren and Luthien was top of my most anticipated new releases of 2017, which should tell you just how excited I am to have gotten my hands on a copy. This is a book pulled together by Tolkien's son Christopher and is part of the mythology of Middle Earth. Do I need to say more?

Every Heart a Doorway / Seanan McGuire
Every Heart a Doorway definitely made the rounds on BookTube last year. From what I understand, it features a school for children who have visited magical worlds like Alice from Alice in Wonderland and the Pevensies from Narnia. Not only does this sound like exactly the kind of story I need right now, but at under 200 pages I predict this will be the perfect weekend read.


How about you? What are you reading this weekend?

September Wrap Up

I cannot even begin to tell you how happy I am to have finally, finally broken through the weird reading slump that I have been in all year. Why did things finally click in September? Well, I'm going to go out on a limb and say that it's because things just have to go right during your birthday month!

Books Read:
Under the Tuscan Sun / Frances Mayes
> Read the review
Days Without End / Sebastian Barry
> Watch the review
The Jester Lost His Jingle / David Saltzman
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn / Mark Twain

Books Mentioned:
Where the Past Begins / Amy Tan
Five Came Back / Mark Harris

Victorian October | TBR

Happy October, everyone! It's really hard to believe how fast this year is flying by. This month I am happy to announce that I am participating in Victober, a month-long readathon focused on celebrating Victorian literature. As I somehow managed to skip this period of literature almost entirely during both high school and my undergraduate degree, I'm really excited to dive right into it.

Books Mentioned:
The Professor / Charlotte Brontë
Great Expectations / Charles Dickens
Dracula / Bram Stoker

Are you participating this Victober? And even if you're not, what's your favorite Victorian novel?

Days Without End | Sebastian Barry

TITLE / Days Without End

AUTHOR / Sebastian Barry

PUBLISHER / Viking

DATE OF PUBLICATION / January 24, 2017

NO. OF PAGES / 259

STARRED RATING / ★★★★

Birthday Reading | Friday Reads

This past week has been one of my best reading weeks this year: I completed two books and hope to ride this momentum through this weekend. And I'm really hoping to get a lot of reading done this weekend because I'm finally taking the weekend off! It's my 26th birthday on Sunday (geez, am I really going to be 26?) and all I really want to do to celebrate is spend some time with my family, eat good food, and do some relaxing reading. Here's what I'm hoping to get through!

Five Came Back / Mark Harris
This is my nonfiction read of the moment. It's an examination of the five big American directors who got involved with the war effort during World War II and chose to turn their cameras on the conflict and so far, I'm definitely enjoying it. Unfortunately, I'm not too familiar with the directors or films Harris has mentioned so far and I can only hope that isn't taking away from my enjoyment of the book. On the plus side, when I've finally got through it, I'll have a whole list of films to check out!

History of Wolves / Emily Fridlund
History of Wolves will be my second Man Booker read of the year. I finished Sebastian Barry's Days Without End earlier this week, which was a fantastic reminder of why I follow the Prize: the nominated books always seem to resonate with me. I'm hoping for equally great things from History of Wolves, which was the only other Man Booker read readily available at my library. That being said, I've heard pretty mixed things about this one, so we'll see how I go.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn / Mark Twain
Like I mentioned above, I just finished Days Without End, a lot of which reminded me a lot of Mark Twain's masterpiece. As soon as I made that connection I was hit with a voracious craving for some Huck Finn and so I've decided to reread (for the millionth time) what has become one of my favorite classics. And as a birthday present to myself, I decided to treat myself to the audiobook version read by Elijah Wood!

Under the Tuscan Sun | Frances Mayes

TITLE / Under the Tuscan Sun

AUTHOR / Frances Mayes

PUBLISHER / Broadway Books

DATE OF PUBLICATION / September 2, 1997

NO. OF PAGES / 299

STARRED RATING / ★★★




"Where you are is who you are. The further inside you the place moves, the more your identity is intertwined with it. Never casual, the choice of place is the choice of something you crave."

I first saw the film Under the Tuscan Sun when I was around 11 or 12 years old, about five years before I took my first trip overseas to visit Italy with my high school choir. I absolutely fell in love with the film, with the romance of buying an old, crumbling house in some foreign country with the intention of quite literally building a new life for yourself from the ground up. I was enamored with the people Frances encountered, with the food, with the atmosphere of it all. And I would be completely lying if I said that I wasn't expecting just as much from the book, if not more.

Which brings me nicely to my first point: this memoir and the film are two completely different things. And while I found this a bit disappointing and disorienting at first, I can quite confidently say now that I am very glad that this was the case. For starters, it was easy enough to separate the book and movie in my mind and, most importantly, it meant that any frustrations I had with the book didn't affect my love of the film. In the film, Frances is a writer reeling from a sudden divorce who takes solitary refuge in the Tuscan countryside. In reality and in the memoir, Frances is a frequent traveler, an already established lover of Italy, and while her first marriage did fall apart, she buys the crumbling Bramasole estate with her then boyfriend Ed. In this case, the art of the film was inspired by life but did not mirror it exactly.

Now for my second point: Under the Tuscan Sun differs from other memoirs I've read in that there's no real "plot." Generally speaking, the memoir has a rough, chronological structure, but the narrative takes a wandering path at a slow pace. Rather than driving hard and fast towards some grand point or life lesson, Mayes leads readers through her meandering thoughts and memories as though we were touring her garden. She picks up side stories and digressions along the way, something that had many of the Goodreads reviewers at their wit's end.

Maybe these reviewers were fans of the film and were hoping for a bit more dramatic action, but as for me, I actually found this narrative style quite enjoyable. It became the perfect evening read. Mayes doesn't require much concentration and her lovely descriptions of life in the Tuscan countryside have a similar effect to a mug of tea and a warm blanket on a chilly night. And as she warns readers herself towards the beginning of the book, Under the Tuscan Sun was meant as a free form journal and record of sorts and I, for one, think it reads exactly as such.

My final point may actually be more of a warning: this isn't necessarily travel-writing for those who have never been to Italy before. Although Mayes does describe the quaintness of the Italian countryside very well, Under the Tuscan is not a book about traveling or experiencing the sights and sounds of Italy. It's a memoir about renovating a house and starting a new chapter of life. It's about deciding to take a leap of faith and all of the rewards that may follow.

By no means is this a perfect book. It's not groundbreaking, in any sense of the word. Mayes does ramble at times and I can't say I was inspired to read every single word with the greatest intensity of concentration. In fact, I found her tendency to throw in Italian words here and there fairly annoying by the end of it all. However, if you are looking for a quiet, beautifully descriptive read about the magic of creating something with your own two hands, Under the Tuscan Sun might be just the book for you.

About Under the Tuscan Sun | About Frances Mayes

Disclaimer: I received this book as part of the Blogging for Books program in exchange for an honest review. I was not paid to review or feature this book and this review is my 100% honest opinion. This is not a sponsored post.

The Willoughby Book Club | Unboxing

You guys know I would never share anything with you that I didn't believe in one hundred and twenty percent, so when I say that the Willoughby Book Club is the first subscription box I've felt genuinely excited about, I really mean it! It's the best of both worlds: beautiful new books picked just for you and beautiful books sent to children in need. What more can you ask for?

More about the WBC's subscription boxes | Use my affiliate link for 10% off!


Disclaimer: I received this book as part of the Willoughby Book Club affiliate program. I will receive a small commission from any purchase made through my affiliate link, but was not otherwise paid to review or feature this subscription service. This review is 100% my own opinion.

The Happiness Zine

Just on the off chance that you haven't seen me banging on about this on social media, I created a zine! More specifically, it's a mini downloadable art zine full of things that make me happy.

Interested in checking out the zine for yourself? You can find it HERE.

August and Bout of Books 20 Wrap Up

I finally, finally feel like I've gotten my reading groove back. I know I've said that before (many times, I'm sure), but I really mean it this time. And I think I have Ms. Elizabeth Gaskell and her beautiful novel Wives and Daughters to thank for it!

Books Read
Crazy Rich Asians / Kevin Kwan
> Read the review
Northanger Abbey / Jane Austen
Wives and Daughters / Elizabeth Gaskell

Currently Reading
Pigeon-Blood Red / Ed Duncan
Five Came Back / Mark Harris

Crazy Rich Asians | Kevin Kwan

TITLE / Crazy Rich Asians

AUTHOR / Kevin Kwan

PUBLISHER / Anchor

DATE OF PUBLICATION / May 20, 2014

NO. OF PAGES / 527

STARRED RATING / ★★★.5

Bout of Books 20 TBR

Alright, it's Bout of Books time! Here's a quick look at the books I'm hoping to knock off my TBR this week.

Books Mentioned:
Pigeon-Blood Red / Ed Duncan
Under the Tuscan Sun / Frances Mayes
Hawaii / James Michener
Northanger Abbey / Jane Austen
The Garden Party and Other Stories / Katherine Mansfield
Are You My Mother? / Alison Bechdel
Unaccustomed Earth / Jhumpa Lahiri