Tag Archives: books

Tuesday, 07 July, 2015
1

Book Review: “Fakebook,” Memoir of a Social Media Prankster

Fakebook

#DailyWings: “Social media has given us this idea that we should all have a posse of friends when in reality, if we have one or two really good friends, we are lucky.” -Brene Brown

Some of you may know that I spent the better half of my senior year in college writing an honors thesis on social media personas. The idea of online personalities has always intrigued me, ever since I discovered Neopets and realized I could build character profiles not only for the virtual pets, but also for myself as an online user.

In this millennium, it’s easier than ever for people to customize an identity for themselves through blogs, Facebook, Twitter and other online social tools, even cloaking certain sides of who they are (which may or may not be a subconscious act). In this way, social media acts as a “veil.” My thesis was about the bridge between bloggers’ online social media personas, the way their readers (“followers”) perceive them to be and how they view themselves.

I’ve been asked before, “Where did you get the idea for this thesis?” While my majors/genuine interest in journalism and psychology kept me interested in the topic for nine months, the idea itself started cooking after I randomly met a young nomad on campus the spring before senior year and then, around the same time, learned of a memoir called “Fakebook.”
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Tuesday, 07 April, 2015
11

April A to Z Blogging Challenge: F is For Fangirl

#DailyWings: “There are too many books I haven’t read, too many places I haven’t seen, too many memories I haven’t kept long enough.” -Irwin Shaw

Blogging From A to Z is an annual month-long challenge in which bloggers around the world are invited to write a blog post every week day for the month of April, with each day corresponding to a letter in the alphabet (26 week days = 26 letters). For this year’s A to Z challenge, my theme is personal anecdotes, or “childhood memories.”

In my last blog post, “E is for Eyes,” I mentioned that my sub-par vision as a kid was due to my tendency to stay up late and read books under the covers. Those adventures I embarked on with characters like Harry and Ron, Meg and Calvin and the worlds I discovered with them were sooo worth getting glasses (and even worth getting caught once in a while!). You know I just had to dedicate an “April A to Z” post to all of the books I loved to read as a child and made me fall in love for reading, writing and everything related to words.
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Tuesday, 20 January, 2015
2

My Bucket List of Good Books to Read: The TBR Book Tag

#DailyWings: “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” -Martin Luther King Jr.

 Back in November, I saw that my good friend and fellow fantasy writer Sara Letourneau had posted the To-Be-Read (TBR) Book Tag on her blog. It was so much fun reading her post that I knew I wanted to do it, too! Who says you have to be tagged in order to participate in a blog tag? ;)

I don’t read as much as I should or want to. There’s not much time during the day for me to read for pleasure. Luckily, that’s what my lunch breaks at work are for. Right now, I’m re-reading “Fakebook” by Dave Cicirelli, a memoir about a social media experiment that inspired my senior honors thesis, “Behind the Blog: The Connection Between Online Social Media Personas and Reader Perspectives” (but that’s a topic for another day). I’ve been reading 15 pages a day, which I’m proud of. I hope to maintain this stride for a long time.

Reading, like writing, is an action for which you need to invest lots of time. But it’s worth it. There’s nothing better than getting transported into another dimension of time and space whenever you want to, even if it’s in your mind. You make new friends with characters and even the authors who create them. You can travel, fall in love and live a thousand lives when you read books. To me, that’s a priceless gift.

Today, I present to you my book tag Q&A:
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Tuesday, 09 December, 2014
1

Book Review: “Writing Down the Bones”

#DailyWings: “Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counsellors, and the most patient of teachers.” – Charles William Eliot

This week, I am back on my regular posting schedule! Today, I present to you – as promised – my long-awaited book review on “Writing Down the Bones” by Natalie Goldberg. But first, I’d like to take a moment and apologize for the roller coaster that was last week! Thank you for bearing it with me, and many thanks to the people who sent me kind well-wishes via social media! For those of you who were spared the details before, I caught a nasty cold and also had a mild case of gingivitis (characterized by swollen, bleeding gums – ew!). Truthfully, I’m glad I took some time off for self-care and for the sake of my physical health. I’m feeling a lot better now!

It’s been over a year since I last wrote a book review. My sister’s boyfriend, Aron, gave me “Writing Down the Bones” as a Christmas gift last year, and I only got around to reading it in August. It normally takes me forever to finish a book, but “Writing Down the Bones” is broken up into three-to-five-page chapters that are easy to fly through if you have a few spare moments.
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Tuesday, 02 December, 2014
2

Capturing Autumn: November Monthly Favorites

#DailyWings: “It’s a most distressing affliction to have a sentimental heart and a skeptical mind.” -Naguib Mahfouz

Last night on my Facebook page, I mentioned that I haven’t been feeling very well and that this week’s Writing Remarks post would go up today. I was hoping to post my book review on “Writing Down the Bones” by Natalie Goldberg, but book reviews take a lot of mental capacity that I just don’t have the energy for right now and, honestly, I didn’t want to post a half-baked review for you all.

Instead, I decided to stick with my regular posting schedule and write my very first Monthly Favorites post. I am incredibly excited about this because I absolutely love watching Monthly favorites videos on YouTube and reading them on blogs. It’s such a great way to round up whatever month is ending and, more importantly, remind yourself of all the wonderful things that make you happy.

Without further ado, here are my November favorites:

1) Skone Cosmetics Tattooed Waterproof Eyeliner, $15 — Before receiving this product in my October Ipsy Glam Bag (my first one!), I’d never tried to put eyeliner on before in my life, let alone a cat eye look. I just wasn’t brave enough. (Plus, my experience with makeup was basically nonexistent, hence my subscription to Ipsy). But I fell in love with this eyeliner the first time I used it, and I’ve worn many a cat eye since then for dates and other special occasions.
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Monday, 01 July, 2013
7

Meeting Khaled Hosseini: “And The Mountains Echoed” Book Tour (and My 21st Birthday + The Great Flood of 2013!)

#DailyWings: “When I was a child my mother said to me, ‘If you become a soldier, you’ll be a general. If you become a monk, you’ll be the pope.’ Instead, I became a painter and wound up as Picasso.” -Pablo Picasso

A couple weeks ago, I read John Green‘s “The Fault in Our Stars,” one of the best Young Adult novels I’ve read in a long time. (If you haven’t done so already, I highly encourage you to read one or all of John’s books and/or check out the awesome vlogbrothers, a YouTube video project he coordinates with his brother Hank.) One of the book’s subplots involves the characters traveling to Amsterdam to meet the writer of their favorite book in person.After I finished reading the book, I Skyped my boyfriend — who shares my passion for good literature and was the one who introduced me to John’s work — and said to him, “Wouldn’t it be so cool if we could just meet our favorite authors like Augustus and Hazel do?”
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Monday, 18 June, 2012
4

Stephen Tremp’s Breakthrough Breakout Party and Other Literary World News

#DailyWings: “So many of our dreams at first seem impossible, then they seem improbable, and then, when we summon the will, they soon become inevitable.” -Christopher Reeve

blog_breakthrough
Happy Monday, everyone! I am officially done with summer school and ready to relax, travel and have some fun until August! In other great news, today is Stephen Tremp’s Breakthrough Breakout FREE Kindle Download Party! Woohoo – bring out the chips and soft drinks and dance music! *parties like a rockstar* 

Be sure to check out his copy of Breakthrough: The Adventures of Chase Manhattan – you can download it for free! 

Without giving away too much (you know I hate spoilers!), here is a shortened summary from Amazon: 

Breakthrough, the first book in the Adventures of Chase Manhattan series, begins with a big bang and offers the audience exciting, unique, and diverse heroes and villains. The result is a fresh suspense thriller series integrating elements of greed, betrayal, passion, lust, unconditional love, coming of age, and hope. The action is swift. There are numerous red herrings, twists and turns, that will keep the reader turning the pages and wanting more.

Sounds like my kind of novel! Thanks Stephen for such an awesome giveaway! In other news, Deana Barnhart  recently got signed with a literary agent, and Ruth Madison has founded a new publishing company dedicated to novels about heroes with physical disabilities. If you’ve got a manuscript that fits this criteria, check out the guidelines here.
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