the latest in english lit.

Before I get started on my review of Estelle Rankin's 7th Edition, 5 Steps to a 5 AP English Literature 2016, I want to make sure you all are aware of the purpose of this exam. 1. your child is planning on going to college. 2. your child is interested in majoring in arts and humanities at said college. If neither of these apply to you, do not have your child take this exam because it will honestly be a big fat waste of your time, unless they are going to Harvard. Now, if they are planning on majoring in arts or humanities in college, PLEASE pick them up a copy of this test prep book. You won't be sorry because this is not an easy exam, and the 5 Steps to a 5 books are the absolute best.

5 Steps to a 5 AP English Literature 2016 is fully revised, and will fully prepare your child for the AP Literature exam by tackling the sections one by one, and outlining everything your child needs to prepare for including what to read before taking this exam. Important things I noticed? The exam does not give you relevant quotes or summaries of the works you can write about for one of your essays, so you need to be super familiar with a couple of major books before you begin. Literary devices should also be memorized. Multiple choice question anxiety will be ever present during this exam, taking a chill pill should cure it right up. You're welcome.

delicious; the novel & the recipes.

Since primetime wedding season is almost over, I feel like it's safe to review Season of Salt and Honey by Hannah Tunnicliffe, a brand spankin' new novel that came out on the first of the month about a woman dealing with the aftermath of her fiancé's untimely death. It sounds harsh, I know.

After her fiancé, Alex dies in a surfing accident, Frankie can. not. even. So she runs. I've run for less let me tell you. Frankie takes off to a secluded cabin, away from her overbearing family, and the painful memories, to give her heart time to heal itself. As time moves forward and her time to grieve is interrupted constantly, Frankie sees a truth to her relationship with Alex she never before allowed herself to see. And after being broken into a million pieces, she discovers that the most unlikely of people can make her feel whole again.

the golden age of spain.

If all history books read like narratives as well as Robert Goodwin's Spain: The Centre of the World 1519-1682 did, history class would be significantly more interesting. It was as if I was reading a novel, and I love novels.

At the beginning of the modern era, Spain became the centre of the western world by accident. And so began Spain's golden age, and Goodwin's tale of how gold and silver got the country out of debt and into the number spot in the 16th century. Universities expanded, the crown got stronger, and opportunities exploded. Despite that pesky Inquisition, it was a beautiful time for Spain and I was happy to learn about all of the good that happened in the country during that time.

light vs. dark.

I have yet to read a novel as complex or engrossing as Salman Rushdie's Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights, the story of an enchanted princess who falls in love with a mortal and together, they bring many powerful children into the world. It's folklore at it's finest as we are fast forwarded to present day (or a little after) where all of the decadents can be found scattered across the world, only tied together by their common lack of earlobes and their superheroish powers. The rest of the novel is apocalyptic, set in Manhattan. There's love, magic, and war. If you like to read about any of those things, then you'll be delighted.

but are we too late?

After reading Mark R. Levin's Plunder and Deceit: Big Government's Exploitation of Young People and the Future I think that every young person should take the time to do the same. As a member of the rising generation, I am going to inherit this mess, and I want to know everything. Levin tells everything.

Our annual debt as a country has exploded from $10 trillion to 18 trillion and rising under the current President. My generation and my children's generation will be paying the interest off this debt in a world where good jobs are harder to come by. And this is just a tiny blimp in the problems our country is facing, and what Levine touches on in this book.

It's clear that Levin doesn't care for Obama, and some may find this book to be a ploy to stop our generation from voting for candidates like Obama, and that may be true. But facts are facts, and current events are current events, Levine is here to educate us. The moral of the story is that if we want a better America, we are going to have to build it ourselves.

migwech.

::REPOST (because there's no laboring today)::

I just finished reading Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by my new spirit animal, Cheryl Strayed. At the age of twenty-six this woman hiked 1,100 miles of the PCT, ALONE. Just her, Monster (her backpack), and her 4 toenails. This is her memoir of her time on that trip, also going back to how she found herself doing something so seemingly impossible. Her mother passed away when she was twenty-two, leaving her heartbroken enough to totally sabotage her marriage and dive into a heroin haze. She decided she needed to find herself, so she went on a very long walk until she did. She had no prior training, just a reference guide and nothing to lose. This was such a beautiful story. I loved the many people she met along the way. And how things didn't go as Cheryl had planned pretty much ever. Her hike was interrupted countless times. There were detours and mishaps, but she finished what she started.

I would love to channel my inner Cheryl Strayed and do something this extreme. But I'm a married lady. So instead I've decided to go to my cottage by myself and do a 3 day juice cleanse. Because, I mean, that's almost the same thing, right?

it may kick ass for you.

I honestly only have eyes for her aunt? relative of some kind? -  but I had to give Stephanie Evanovich a try, and was pleasantly surprised by her debut novel, Big Girl Panties, which I reviewed almost two years ago, here. It was a tad raunchy, but her heroine was a chick I could get behind.

Now I just finished The Sweet Spot, which is Evanovich's second novel, and I want to say was a prequel? Because we met Amanda and Chase in her first novel, and they were already happily married. Well, I don't feel quite as warm and fuzzy about this one. It was like 50 Shades of Gray with a blue eyed Kim Kardashian, if she would have ever dated a baseball player and allowed him to spank her. It started off well enough. Amanda, semi-independent restaurant owner, business lady, foxy meets Chase Walker, America's favorite baseball player, (if America liked New Jersey) and he wins her over by coming into her restaurant every night until she will go out with him. Adorable beginning, really. And then the spanking came. I'm just not into it. Not that other ladies won't appreciate the gory details, the novel definitely still deserves to be featured on the blog, it just wasn't for me.