Showing posts with label little women. Show all posts
Showing posts with label little women. Show all posts

Monday, October 31, 2016

october wrap-up

Welcome to another monthly wrap up here at Stardust and Words! October was extremely busy for me, I visited five different states and bought a ton of books in all of these different independent bookstores, so I was a happy clam. It was also busy school-wise, so I only got to ten books this month, with three reviews posted. Hopefully my reading will pick up in November, because it is less busy and because the holidays are always a time when I end up reading a ton! Hope you all had an amazing October and have an even better November :)

1. More All-Of-A-Kind Family – Sydney Taylor ☆☆☆

In the second book of Sydney Taylor's classic children's series, Ella finds a boyfriend and Henny disagrees with Papa over her curfew. Thus continues the tale of a Jewish family of five sisters-Ella, Henny, Sarah, Charlotte and Gertie-and little brother, Charlie, living at the turn of the century in New York's Lower East Side. Entertaining and educational, this book brings to life the joys and fears of that time and place.








 
2. Little Women – Louisa May Alcott (reread) ☆☆☆☆☆

Following the lives of four sisters on a journey out of adolescence, Louisa May Alcott's Little Women explores the difficulties associated with gender roles in a Post-Civil War America.













3. Happy Endings Are All Alike – Sandra Scoppettone ☆☆☆

In 1978 Sandra Scoppettone, who would soon become a well-known mystery writer, published the story of Peggy and Jaret, two high school girls madly in love but find themselves the target of a violent plot to punish them for who they are. Part mystery thriller, part love story, Happy Endings Are All Alike was only the third young adult novel featuring lesbian characters and was a commercial and critical sensation. 










4. When the Moon Was Ours – Anna-Marie McLemore ☆☆☆☆

When the Moon Was Ours follows two characters through a story that has multicultural elements and magical realism, but also has central LGBT themes—a transgender boy, the best friend he’s falling in love with, and both of them deciding how they want to define themselves.

To everyone who knows them, best friends Miel and Sam are as strange as they are inseparable. Roses grow out of Miel’s wrist, and rumors say that she spilled out of a water tower when she was five. Sam is known for the moons he paints and hangs in the trees, and for how little anyone knows about his life before he and his mother moved to town.

But as odd as everyone considers Miel and Sam, even they stay away from the Bonner girls, four beautiful sisters rumored to be witches. Now they want the roses that grow from Miel’s skin, convinced that their scent can make anyone fall in love. And they’re willing to use every secret Miel has fought to protect to make sure she gives them up.
 

5. Six of Crows (Six of Crows #1) – Leigh Bardugo (reread) ☆☆☆☆☆ 


Ketterdam: a bustling hub of international trade where anything can be had for the right price—and no one knows that better than criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker. Kaz is offered a chance at a deadly heist that could make him rich beyond his wildest dreams. But he can't pull it off alone...

A convict with a thirst for revenge
A sharpshooter who can't walk away from a wager
A runaway with a privileged past
A spy known as the Wraith
A Heartrender using her magic to survive the slums
A thief with a gift for unlikely escapes


Kaz's crew are the only ones who might stand between the world and destruction—if they don't kill each other first.


6. Crooked Kingdom (Six of Crows #2) – Leigh Bardugo ☆☆☆☆☆

 Kaz Brekker and his crew have just pulled off a heist so daring even they didn't think they'd survive. But instead of divvying up a fat reward, they're right back to fighting for their lives. Double-crossed and left crippled by the kidnapping of a valuable team member, the crew is low on resources, allies, and hope. As powerful forces from around the world descend on Ketterdam to root out the secrets of the dangerous drug known as jurda parem, old rivals and new enemies emerge to challenge Kaz's cunning and test the team's fragile loyalties. A war will be waged on the city's dark and twisting streets―a battle for revenge and redemption that will decide the fate of magic in the Grisha world.




7. Iron Cast – Destiny Soria ☆☆☆(1/2)

It’s Boston, 1919, and the Cast Iron club is packed. On stage, hemopaths—whose "afflicted" blood gives them the ability to create illusions through art—captivate their audience. Corinne and Ada have been best friends ever since infamous gangster Johnny Dervish recruited them into his circle. By night they perform for Johnny’s crowds, and by day they con Boston’s elite. When a job goes wrong and Ada is imprisoned, they realize how precarious their position is. After she escapes, two of the Cast Iron’s hires are shot, and Johnny disappears. With the law closing in, Corinne and Ada are forced to hunt for answers, even as betrayal faces them at every turn.





8. Me and Fat Glenda – Lila Perl ☆☆ 

She's fat. She's loud-mouthed. She's pushy. She's opinionated. She's prejudiced. She has a "creative" way with the truth. She is madly in love with your sixteen-year-old brother. All the other kids in seventh-grade hate her and she hates them. Her mother has a petition going to try to force your family out of the neighborhood. . . . And she's your best friend! There's no one like Fat Glenda. In Lila Perl's 1972 comedy, while Sara has to cope with her family's unorthodox ways and the town's prejudice against them, it's her new friend Glenda who Sara has to really watch out for. For Glenda has a secret, and everyone in town knows it . . . but Sara!





9. Milk and Honey – Rupi Kaur ☆☆☆☆☆

milk and honey is a collection of poetry and prose about survival. It is about the experience of violence, abuse, love, loss, and femininity. It is split into four chapters, and each chapter serves a different purpose, deals with a different pain, heals a different heartache. milk and honey takes readers through a journey of the most bitter moments in life and finds sweetness in them because there is sweetness everywhere if you are just willing to look









10. Taking Terri Mueller– Norma Fox Mazer ☆☆☆

For as long as I can remember, It's just been Daddy and me. I can't remember my mother. I was told she died in an accident when I was four, and that's all I know about her. I don't understand why there isn't even a picture of her. The other thing I don't understand is why we're always moving -- different towns -- with no explanations. I know something is wrong. It begins with my birth certificate-- my only link to my mother.
Then I overhear a conversation: "Tell Terri the truth."









what did y'all read in October?

xx
Caroline  

Tuesday, October 18, 2016

top ten tuesday: nameworthy characters

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted over at The Broke and the Bookish! This week's theme is "October 18: Ten Characters I'd Name A Child/Dog/Cat/Car/Etc. After -- we did this topic back in 2011 and thought it might be fun to revisit it...feel free to spin it how you need!" I love this topic! I already have a dog named after Hazel Grace Lancaster from TFIOS, so that is first on the list, but I do have a ton of other ones that I love!

1. Hazel from The Fault in Our Stars
2. Jo from Little Women
3. Percy from Percy Jackson and the Olympians
4. Arin from The Winner's Curse
5. Celaena from Throne of Glass
6. Alina from The Grisha trilogy
7. Laurent from Captive Prince
8. St. Clair from Anna and the French Kiss
9. Inej from Six of Crows
10. Ani from The Goose Girl

what's on your list this week?

xx
Caroline

Tuesday, March 1, 2016

top ten tuesday: when youre in the mood for a classic

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted over at The Broke and the Bookish, and this week's theme is " March 1: Ten Books To Read If You Are In The Mood For X!" I like these freebie-ish weeks, because I love to see what people come up with :) For my list, I'm going to do Top Ten Books to read if you're in the mood for a classic, because I feel like I never get to talk about the classics that I've really enjoyed. 

Top Ten Classics for When You're in the Mood for One 





1.  Little Women – Louisa May Alcott
2. Jane Eyre– Charlotte Brontë





 



3. The Odyssey – Homer
4. Sense and Sensibility – Jane Austen









5. Their Eyes Were Watching God – Zora Neale Hurston 
6. Leaves of Grass – Walt Whitman







7. Crime and Punishment – Fyodor Dostoyevsky 
8. The Three Musketeers – Alexandre Dumas





 



9. Any Sherlock Holmes story – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle 
10. Tess of the D'Urbervilles – Thomas Hardy






what is on your TTT this week?

xx
Sunny

Monday, January 25, 2016

♔ disney princess book tag ♔


Y'all I saw this tag today and my first thought is "HOW have I not done this one yet??" My love for Disney and for books are two things that know no bounds. I first saw this over at Alexa Loves Books, but it was created by Of Stacks and Cups! I can't wait for this one.

You're supposed to start off with three facts about Disney Princesses, so here goes:

1. Belle is and always was my favorite princess, but I also love Tiana a lot.
2. I have all the Disney animated movies on VHS to this day, and Robin Hood was the one I watched most as a kid. (I had a crush on Robin okay)
3. Disney songs basically get me through my days... I know all of them. Even the most obscure. I know it. By heart. Don't test me.

Onto the tag! (these edits came from disneyismyescape.tumblr.com!)

1. Snow White | Favorite Classic


My favorite classic has been Little Women since I first read the "junior" version when I was eight years old. I have always seen a lot of myself in Jo, both good and bad, and I love the story, the sisterhood, and the language of this book. Will always be one of my all time favorites, and it is an amazing audiobook too! 

2. Cinderella | A Book That Kept You Up Past Your Bedtime

 

I distinctly remember picking this up when it first came out, then looking up at the clock and it was somehow 2am. This one definitely gripped me from the start, and didn't let go until I had finished! Still one of my favorite reading experiences, ever, the way it just made me forget about everything else going on. 

3. Aurora | Favorite Classic Romance 

 

One of my absolute favorite romances is between Fanny and Edmund in Mansfield Park. I know that this is definitely not one of the most popular Austen novels, but I have always loved this book, and I love the ease of the relationship between these two. (Even though they're cousins, which I can look past, lol) 

4. Ariel | A Book About Making Sacrifices For Your Dreams 

 

In this book, Dee sacrifices what she feels like could be true love in pursuit of her dream of being a singer. This doesn't mean she isn't true to herself, just that the boy she loves doesn't necessarily fit into her life and her dreams. She's focusing on herself above all else, and the things that she wants, which will eventually make her happy, instead of changing for someone else. 

5. Belle | A Book With a Strong, Independent Female Character

 

This series in general has so many smart female characters, all of whom are independent and amazing on their own. First of all, of course, our protag Celaena is the most badass of all. But then there's Nehemia, Ansel, Manon, Lysandra and and Elide. The Throne of Glass world is just chock full of amazing female characters, which is a big reason why I love this series so much. 

6. Jasmine | A Book Where the Character Challenged Social Conventions 

 

Vengeance Road was one of my favorite books of 2015, and that had a lot to do with Kate, our main character. She definitely challenged the social conventions of the Wild West, with basically everything she did, from dressing like a boy to going on a treasure hunt to learning to shoot a gun to allowing herself to be alone with two boys. She was totally awesome because of it.

7. Pocahontas | A Book Whose Ending Was A Roller Coaster of Emotions
 

I'm going to agree with OP on this one... I have never ever read a book where I cried more than this one. For one, this is one of my favorite series EVER. I was so invested in every single character, and there was absolutely no way that they could all end up happy at the same time. Therefore: tears. Happy, sad, all mixed together into a really gross mixture that left me feeling drained. 

8. Mulan | A Book With A Kickass Female Character 

 

Obviously, I love books with kickass female characters, so there are tons to choose from, but the reason that I choose Shazi from The Wrath and the Dawn is because she is kickass in a different, more subtle way. She doesn't go around cutting down everyone who goes against her, like, say Celaena does, but she is kickass in her own way. She is a boss, she is self-possessed and strong, and she completely controls her own destiny, even when it seems like she has no choices. 

9. Tiana | A Book With a Hardworking, Self-Made Character

 

I just finished this book last night, and maybe that's why I'm hard pressed to think of a character who works harder than Skylar Evans. She lives in a shit town, but works two jobs and keeps her grades and her personal life as close to perfect as she can, all the while taking care of a mentally ill mother and earning herself a free ride to a college where she can study art. 

10. Rapunzel | A Book That Features An Artist 

 

Isla and the Happily Ever After features some of the best art couple aesthetic opportunities that I've ever seen! I love this story, and how it focuses on art as a way to express love or affection. It is also the third book of three companion novels that I absolutely will adore forever, so that is also something good going for it.

11. Merida | A Book That Features a Mother/Daughter Relationship


This book features a relationship between America, who we got to know in the first three books of the Selection Series, and her daughter Eadlyn, who is just introduced in this fourth book. I loved getting to see a character I know and love all grown up, which is something that does not normally happen. Though they can have a sort of tempestuous relationship, they are still close, which I love reading about. 

12. Anna and Elsa | A Book With A Great Relationships Between Siblings

 

Margot, Lara Jean and Kitty are the Song girls. Three sisters who lost their mother, but who grew closer because of it. This book is one of my favorite sister books that I've ever read: it is a cute contemporary, but it is just as much about family as it is romance, and I thought the relationships between the three girls were realistic and sweet at the same time. 

So that's it for the Disney Princess tag! If you decide to do this, link me, I would love to see what some of your answers are! 

xx
Sunny

Sunday, December 13, 2015

spotlight on: books about the holidays

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

Hello! Welcome to the December spotlight post here at These Stardust Words. I have been completely swamped with finals for the past two weeks: essays and exams and whatnot, so there has been a lamentable lack of posts here during that time. However, now that school is over, I am back with a vengeance and ready for CHRISTMAS!!! So hopefully we will be doing a bunch of festive-themed posts in the next couple of weeks. Spotlight on is a monthly series here where I talk about whatever I want to talk about for a while. You can find all the previous installments in this series here. This month, I am talking about books that include Christmas/holiday scenes in them. 

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

Tuesday, January 27, 2015

top ten tuesday: if i had a book club

Top ten Tuesday is hosted over at The Broke and the Bookish, and is a weekly feature where every week there is a different theme, and you must come up with a list of ten things under that theme. This week, the theme is "January 27: Ten Books I'd Love to Read With My Book Club/If I Had A Book Club (or you could pick a specific kind of book club -- like if you had a YA book club or an adult book club or a science fiction book club etc.)" List is under the cut!

80% Read the Printed Word!