15 Day Book Blogger Challenge: Day 1

As many of you have probably noticed I’ve been in a book blogging slum. Not that I’ve stopped reading, I wish I could use that as an excuse but if you could just see my blog drafts list you would cringe at how many reviews are unfinished just because I didn’t feel like putting in the energy. Needless to say, it was blogging doldrums up in here. So when I came across April’s post on her Good Books and Good Wine Blog with a 15 Day Book BloggerChallenge, I felt invigorated and the need to blog just about overwhelmed me. Plus, this girl loves a good challenge. If you guys are bloggers and you would also like to participate in this challenge, don’t forget to pingback to April’s blog and feel free to check out what the other bloggers who have endeavored to complete the challenge have contributed. 

Here’s the complete challenge list:

Confession One:

I own five copies of City of Lost Souls.

When Cassandra Clare’s City of Lost Souls first came out people were buying these books like crazy. The coolest thing about this book was that there were four different versions. Yes, yes, I know, 95% of the book was the same in each version but I’m the type of OCD person that needs the exclusive material in each book. Costco, Target, Barnes and Noble, Walmart, and the Kindle store all receieved my monetary contribution just the get an additional snippet. AND you know what the greatest thing is I don’t regret spendinging the money for them, they’re beautiful, I mean seriously look at that cover! And the Garden scene from Jace’s point of view-I died a thousand times gushing over the way Jace fell for Clary. ❤ ❤ ❤ TOTALLY WORTH IT.

Confession Two:

Crime and Punishment changed my life. When I read Dostoevsky for the first time in middle school, I knew what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. I wanted to be a writer, to explore the darkest desires of the human mind and their deepest disappointments. This also influenced my whole college experience. It’s why I have a degree in Russian and East European studies, why I wanted to go to Moscow for study abroad, and why I worked so hard to master the Russian language.

Confession Three:

I’m that person who will stand in front of a bookshelf at Barnes and Noble scrutinizing every available copy of the book I wish to buy, examining the spine, any discolorations, making sure that there’s been no page bending or scratches on the cover. I will hunt for the copy in pristine condition and will not stop until I find it. It may be a little sad and a lot pathetic but you can’t blame a girl for wanting the best of what’s offered.

Confession Four:

Some of the best memories of my teen years revolved around Harry Potter midnight book release parties at Borders. My friends and I got really into it, we made t-shirts, butter beer, pretzel wands, and raced to finish the book before everyone else. They use to have costume contests, trivia, and film screenings while you waited. It was an all night event and everyone loved it. I miss midnight HP release parties and get really nostalgic when I look at some of my old tees. I have a big family so we dressed up as characters. My best friend at the time and I were Fred and George, my twin sisters were Luna Lovegood and Cho Chang. We had a blast getting creative and living in our own recreated Potter world.

Confession Five:

The day my local Borders closed, I cried. And then I cried some more. AND then I cried for all the lost potential new reads, for the smell of new books, and for the Peppermint Mocha Trio latte.

Confession Six:

When I was younger(ish), I use to tell people that I was named after Jordan Baker from The Great Gatsby. This was secretly how I made new friends. If someone’s answer was Ew, that required school reading that I looked up on Sparknotes, that’s a deal breaker.

Confession Seven:

When Sirius, Dobby, and Dumbledore died in the Harry Potter books, I didn’t cry. But when Hedwig did, sobbing mess.

Confession Eight:

Persuasion is my favorite Jane Austen. I own three different film versions and sometimes watch them back to back.

(This one is my fav)

Confession Nine:

My mom loves telling this story: When I was in Kindergarten we went around the room telling the class our middle names. I told the teacher mine was Snow(Jordan Snow White) lol. I was so adamant that that was really my middle name that the teacher pulled my mom aside one day after school to ask her. If you’re sensing a pattern here, from the time I was associating with others I loved living in a world of fantasy and one of my favorite things was pretending to be a fictional character. Plus, what little girl doesn’t envision herself as a princess?

Confession Ten:

I adore Russian literature but I think Nabokov is an overrated, pretentious writer and after reading all of his work, Lolita is still the best, not because it is taboo but because it’s real, it’s heartbreaking, and unreliable narrators make me obscenely happy. AND an obsession with butterflies, I know they’re pretty but honestly.

Confession Eleven:

Sometimes, this is a really dark secret guys so keep it on the DL, I really like the movie better than the book. I know, this is pretty much sacrilegious but hey, confession time. I definitely liked The Fellowship of the Ring much more on screen than in 300 or so pages.

Confession Twelve:

Pretty Little Liars is my guilty pleasure. The books, the TV show, yes, most of the time it is to mock how dramatic it is and then I go on  Betches Love This for their recap and laugh for hours.

For the most recent recap click this –>The One With Hannah’s Food Shirt

Confession Thirteen:

I am insanely jealous of Skyla Messenger. If you guys have not read Addison Moore’s Celestra series and you like drama galore with a hint of angels and lots of sexual tension, you should check it out, trust me it’s addictive. Skyla has everything. Well almost. She’s hot, has not one, not two, but THREE gorgeous men/boys all in love with her. Yeah, she does have some crazy people trying to kill her, and sure her family is eh but she barely bats her perfectly mascara’d eyelashes when all hell breaks loose. I wish I had that kind of take charge attitude, the attention of 3 awesome guys, and oh wait, did I mention she’ll basically live forever?!

Confession Fourteen:

I use to be a diehard Twilight fan. I still like the story but mocking some of the ridiculous parts is oh so much fun.

Confession Fifteen:

I spend more time adding books to my TBR pile and searching for new books than I do actually reading them. For someone who has read over 150 books this year, that’s really saying something.

I hope you had fun reading this, I really enjoyed putting this list together.

Happy reading and don’t forget if you want to participate to ping back!

-BB