Category Archives: Reading

My Four-Year-Old Baby

www.l2dragonwind.com turns four today. :D

It all started with Neopets. (I feel like every good story should start with that sentence.) My dear friend Chelsea, who I met in a guild, ran several of hew own websites. Through her I learned about HTML and CSS and running a website. I practiced on the pet pages and pet lookups. My interest began to grow and through Chelsea’s websites, I ran across some bloggers.

There were several that caught my interest and I began to follow them. I loved their style of writing, and how I instantly became interested in their lives and yet they were complete strangers. They expressed their emotion so easily and unashamedly, creating beautiful pieces of writing to share with the world.

I wanted that. I wanted to be able to share my thoughts and opinions other than on a piece of paper in a pink, glittery diary (which trust me, was not my scene). At first I thought that I couldn’t run my own website. I didn’t know anything about servers or domains or anything about anything. But I wanted a website. So I looked into some free-hosting sites and started my first website at the end of my 8th grade year (2008).

It really wasn’t much besides my angsty teenage thoughts and weird encounters with friends. Whatever site I used doesn’t exist anymore, of which I am fairly grateful. I’m not sure I would want to read some of the things I wrote about. But it was a start.

I went through several different phases after that. I quit for a time, I continued for a time. I switched websites, from other free-hosting websites to subdomains. I blogged sporadically, finding inspiration one day and then the next I would run completely dry. After years of blogging on and off, having to switch content from site to site, I realized I needed something permanent. I needed something that was completely mine, and I found it here.

I still go through periods where I don’t blog often – but I know that it’s here, and I know that it’s mine. I always have somewhere to go when I need to just think. When I need to write.

Some days I feel like I’ve spent my whole life blogging, and other days I feel like I just started yesterday. It’s weird, thinking that this blog has seen me graduate, buy my first car, meet my boyfriend, and get engaged. It’s seen many of the good times and many of the bad times. I’m not sure if I’ve inspired or motivated anyone like those first bloggers that I followed, and I know that most days my writing isn’t beautiful pieces of art, but I’m grateful all the same for the site that I’ve established and the many friendships I’ve created. <3

Reading Recap: Winter 2015

In my literary endeavor to read 52 books this year, I’ve made quite a stunning start – if I do say so myself – by having already finished 13 books this year. This means that I’m a fourth of the way done with my goal and am excited to share with you my favorites (so you can read them too!!) and my disappointments (so you can’t say you haven’t been warned).

Favorites:

  • The Aviator’s Wife by Melanie Benjamin. Both a fictional and historical account on the wife of Anne Morrow, the wife of the famous aviator Charles Lindbergh. I loved this book because of all the historical details weaved in – I felt like I learned just as much about the decades in which they lived as I did about the Lindberghs themselves. A bit heartbreaking, yet very intriguing as you follow Ann through the happy times – their marriage, the birth of their children – and the bad times – their newborn being abducted and murdered, their failing marriage. A great read, and it may be my #1 book of the year so far.
  • The Girl of Fire & Thorns Trilogy by Rae Carson. Another action-packed novel with a strong female protagonist leading them all. In some ways, this seems like an epic, starting so small with a young, naive girl, who then manages to get into more adventures than I can describe. It has a new and realistic spin on romance, while that not being the focus of the series at all. The world-building was fantastic, and it was refreshing to read about the religion that was weaved so intricately into the plot line. Very realistic and very entertaining. I would recommend to any who like fantasy, adventures, monarchs, and romance. It’s got it all, y’all.
  • The Young Elites by Marie Lu. Having previously read her Legend trilogy (which I loved, by the way), I had to pick up her new fantasy, post-apocalyptic novel and I was not disappointed. The novel follows Adelina (a great name, yes?), a young girl with mysterious powers who is saved and then welcomed into the ranks of a secret society trying to overthrow the government. There’s princes and romance, blackmail and betrayal, swordfights and much, much more. The story felt very original, as did the characters, and I couldn’t read it fast enough. I was rueful when the end came only because now I have to wait until October for the sequel.

Disappointments:

  • The End by Lemony Snicket. There is nothing I hate more than reading a series of novels and when everything comes to a close, no questions are answered, the end isn’t an end, and you felt like you just wasted your time. The End was a culmination of all of these for the Series of Unfortunate events. The last five or so novels had been tedious for me to get through, but man, I was going to find out what happened to those poor Baudelaires. Well if you’re wondering that too, don’t bother reading The End because even though it’s supposed to be the end, it’s nothing but a cop out.
  • If I Stay by Gayle Forman. If I’m being fair, this book really shouldn’t be in this category. I actually really liked this book, about a girl who is in a fatal car accident with her family and must make the decision whether or not she will stay on earth or join her family. It was a quick and easy read with fun characters, so the reason I’m putting this in the disappointment category was because of the hype and media surrounding it. I was expecting that when I shut the cover of the novel, I would be left with more. So despite its category on this blog post, I would still recommend it. :)

These are just my favorites (and not so much) of the year so far. You can view all of the books I’ve read so far here. What books have you read this year?