May 10, 2012
I am currently reading at least four books at once so I’m already totally lost but I’d still love to hear your recommendations for more good reading material. Leave them in the comments please!
And here are a few of the books I’ve read lately:
Blood Bones and Butter
I like memoirs and this book didn’t disappoint. One of NYC’s top chefs writes about her crazy childhood, her glam French mother’s decline, her parent’s divorce, the way she basically raised herself, her struggle through the catering kitchens of NYC and how she came to love food. While I found it to be a very entertaining read, I really couldn’t relate to the author much. Not because she’s not a good writer, simply because I’m not a foodie. But for die-hard foodies out there, I think this is a must-read.
Delirium, Pandemonium, and Hana. By Lauren Oliver
More young adult books. I can’t help it, I’m into them right now! And these were good. This is yet another post-apocalyptic society where people are turned into unfeeling robots with a special surgery when they hit a certain age, because the government tells them that love is a disease that will make them crazy and destroy their lives. I really enjoyed Delirium and Pandemonium, though I didn’t like Hana – it was basically just a retelling of Delirium through another character’s eyes.
Defending Jacob. By William Landay
I shocked myself by absolutely loving this book. Legal thrillers are absolutely not my thing. I read them on occasion when people recommend them to me and they’re fine, they occupy my time, but I’m not like, “Oh, where’s the next legal thriller book I can get my hands on!” Anyways, the premise is really similar to the Jodi Picoult book, House Rules, which I also enjoyed. You can read the description here but my opinion is that this was a really well written novel and got me more emotionally involved than this genre usually does. I could not put it down!
The Hunger Games, Catching Fire and Mockingjay. By Suzanne Collins
I had to re-read this books for the 10th time since the movie was coming out. Actually, I thought I’d refresh my memory with The Hunger Games only but of course, once I started, I couldn’t read just one. Reminded me yet again, why I love books so much more than movies. The movie was great, they did an awesome job with casting, in particular. But the richness of the whole story is in Katniss’ head and the way you can feel her fear. It just doesn’t come across in the movie the way it does in the book.
Katniss the Cattail: An Unauthorized Guide to Names and Symbols in Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games. By Valerie Estelle Frankel
In the same vein, I also picked up this guide to The Hunger Games. I learned a lot about why Suzanne named certain characters certain things and a lot of parts in the book that I thought were just random I found out were actually symbolic, so that was cool. The book is cheap for Kindle and quick to read so I’d say it’s worth it.
Growing Up Amish. By Ira Wagler
This was another interesting memoir. I liked it even more than Blood, Bones & Butter. Growing up in Michigan, we’d often drive through Amish town on our way down to Florida and their communities have always held a certain fascination for me. This book was a total eye-opener as to the way they live and some of the things people living in the communities go through. It got religious towards the end but not in a preachy, holier than thou way – just in a guy telling you his life story and that’s how it happens to end way.
Auschwitz. By Miklos Nyiszli
I was fascinated by this book, I couldn’t put it down. It’s not a page turner by any means, we all know the way the story ends. But the author really got into my head. He’s a Jewish doctor who ends up working with the famous, evil Dr. Mengele. The man is forced to experiment on his own kind. There really aren’t words to describe the horrors he witnesses but what makes this story even more interesting to me is the way he rationalizes the things he has to do in order to survive. You can almost feel the basic human instinct climbing out through the pages.
Memoirs of a Holocaust Survivor. By Icek Kuperberg
Kindle also suggested this to me and I didn’t love it. It’s a first person recollection from a Holocaust survivor, which of course is good to read. But it’s so dry that it feels more like a history book – then we woke and we were cold and they beat us and one of my friends died. The next day I found a way to get more soup. They sent me to work in another camp on the cattle cars. And so on. I am still glad I read it because I did learn a few things about the experience of a survivor, but like I said, it was so dry that I couldn’t really get into it or empathize. Part of the problem might be that I thought the narrator was a girl until ¾ of the way through the story when he says he was punched in the testicles.
The Mortal Instruments Trilogy. By Cassandra Clare
Yep, another YA series. But they’re so good! Not my favorites of all time but good enough to make me read through all three books pretty much without stopping. They’re sort of Harry Potter-ish (I’d imagine, I’ve yet to read Harry Potter, though I’m planning on it) with lots of magic and fantasy. Highly entertaining!
Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. By Ransom Riggs
Enough people recommended this book to me that I felt like I had to read it. I did, and I really enjoyed it, but I don’t get all the fuss. It was a great, crazy fun descriptive book (that I actually think would make an awesome movie) but the ending was terrible! I guess the author might be leaving it open for a sequel but I wish he would’ve tried to wrap things up a little better before the last page.
And there you have it. What have you been reading? Give me more recommendations!
More in this series:
May 7, 2012
Hola! Como están? En este momento me toco a mi escribir para el post y como sabrán mi fuerte no son las palabras. La Kyle en este momento esta arriba de un avión, camino a Miami, pero me dejo el preview terminado del matrimonio de Pamela y Patricio que fotografiamos este fin de semana en Espacio Riesco, para que lo puedan ver antes de irse a su luna de miel!
Los dejo con las fotos.
April 10, 2012
There are many ways to make international travel cheaper. Traveling internationally doesn’t have to break the bank and sometimes just takes a little extra creativity. Traveling should be a fun affair and you shouldn’t have to worry about how to pay about it afterwards, even if you are using credit cards with low apr.
Here are some tips on traveling internationally for less.
1. Stay at a Hostel
Instead of staying at a nice hotel, save money and stay at a hostel. Hostels cost only a fraction of what a hotel would cost. You can even find some hostels for the equivalent of $10 a night. Plus, you might get a chance to meet some really interesting people.
2. Eat Like a Local
Instead of going out to all the famous restaurants, try saving money by eating like a local. The cuisine will be just as good, plus you’ll be paying much less. This means you should try eating food from street vendors and local cafes.
3. Use a Rewards Card
Sign up for a rewards credit card to get free or discounted hotel stays or flights. Sometimes, like with the southwest credit card, you will be able to purchase a round-trip international flight for free just from the bonus miles you receive from signing up for an airline’s credit card.
4. Visit Free Attractions
There are plenty of free attractions abroad. To save money, try to go to as many free attractions as possible. Oftentimes this means going to parks, museums, and historical sites. Just because an attraction is free does not mean it is not fun.
5. Walk
Instead of hiring a taxi or paying for public transportation, you can save money by walking to as many tourist destinations as possible. Of course, if something is out of walking distance, it is much cheaper to take public transportation than to hire a taxi or shuttle service.
Be Thrifty
Now that you know a great variety of ways to save money when traveling abroad, you should find that it is extremely easy to travel to another country and still have money left in the bank when you come home. You can have just as much fun, or sometimes more, when you are traveling on a budget – even if you are traveling abroad. So, stop falling into the trap that travel agents lay about international travel being expensive; by following these tips, anyone can afford to travel internationally.
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