Movie Review: The Mortal Instruments | City of Bones

I have been waiting for this movie to premiere ever since I picked up the boxed set of the first three books in the series (see previous blog post about my fangirldom).  For some unknown reason I kept thinking that it premiered Friday, since most movies open on Fridays, I suppose.  Imagine my delight when I went to go check local show times and realized that it in fact premieres today!

Luckily enough for me, I had the day off so I was able to go to the first showing at my theater at 11:00 a.m.  I didn't want to wait until the afternoon when teenage girls who slept in decided to swarm the theater; after all, school isn't back in session yet.  There is honestly nothing I love better than going to see a movie by myself, and I treated myself to a MEDIUM popcorn ("for only fifty cents more").  Butter?  Yes, please.

Barnes and Noble trip!

One of my favorite things to do is to wander around the bookstore with no particular item in mind, simply browsing the shelves and taking my time picking up book after book.  Since I had some free time this morning in between work shifts and meetings, I decided to treat myself to just such a trip.  I went to the Barnes and Noble/Starbucks cafe and got their "Grilled Cheese Stuffed Pretzel" (it lives up to its name) and the new Starbucks Valencia Orange Refresher.  It was also delicious -- tasted kind of like a jacked up orange Italian soda.  Yum!  With these treats in hand, I began my mindless wandering.

My trip was fruitful; what's in the bag?

TV Timeout: "Orange Is the New Black"

 As much as I love me a good book, I am also an avid TV watcher -- couch potatoes with hermit tendencies, you know.  So every now and again I'd like to do a little featurette, if you will, on a TV show that has captured my fancy.  Not that "Orange Is the New Black" is completely outside of literary bounds; it is based on a book, after all.

I'm sure you've heard of this show by now, which is a fairly new introduction by Netflix due to its initial success with attempting original programming (see "House of Cards").  People are raving about this show for good reason - my boyfriend and I are now seven episodes in, trying not to binge on the first season and stretch out the goodness for as long as we can.  (The great thing about Netflix original programming is that the entire season becomes available at once, so you can have marathon viewing sessions if you'd like.  Awesome, but also dangerous.)

"Waiting On" Wednesday: Elizabeth of York

Elizabeth of York: A Tudor Queen and Her World
by Alison Weir

Ballantine Books

Release date: December 3, 2013

From Amazon:

Many are familiar with the story of the much-married King Henry VIII of England and the celebrated reign of his daughter, Elizabeth I. But it is often forgotten that the life of the first Tudor queen, Elizabeth of York, Henry’s mother and Elizabeth’s grandmother, spanned one of England’s most dramatic and perilous periods. Now New York Times bestselling author and acclaimed historian Alison Weir presents the first modern biography of this extraordinary woman, whose very existence united the realm and ensured the survival of the Plantagenet bloodline.

Fangirl Moment: The Mortal Instruments

It all started with a boxed set...

I was meandering the aisles of Wal-Mart on one summer day and of course, made it to the book section after the makeup section failed to yield anything interesting and sparkly.  I was looking for some fluffy, lazy days reads but with no particular titles in mind; I happened to glance upon The Mortal Instruments Boxed Set (with the first four books in the series).  Anything that says "Soon to be made into a major motion picture" on the cover has my attention, plus the covers on these books are just pretty and shiny.  Right next to the boxed set was the Official Illustrated Movie Companion which of course, I flipped through.  Being completely unfamiliar with this series or its premise, I felt like I needed some visual aids.  Hot dudes?  Check.  Fantastical characters?  Check.  Mindless entertainment?  Double check.  I grabbed the boxed set thinking that if nothing else, at least it was a good deal for all four books, and I'm always happy to add to my collection even if they just sit there for a while.

Enter the OBSESSIVE READING PHASE.

Reading is cool

I have loved to read since kindergarten, when I learned how to string letters together to make sounds and then words.  It was always a magical thing to me - to be able to create a visual in your mind using only words printed on a page is just really, really cool.  It's portable, personal and doesn't require any special equipment.  I pretty much always had a book on me.  Going on a field trip?  BOOK.  Going to the doctor and don't want to be bored in the waiting room?  BOOK.  You get the point.

My love of reading has gotten stronger as I've aged.  I was always afraid that I would run out of time for this pastime that I loved so much, but as with anything, you make time for the things you love and reading is no exception.  Since I'm no longer in college and have found it difficult to find those who enjoy reading as much as I do, I've discovered the wonderful BookTube and BookBlog communities and I love the fact that you can have this kind of discussion virtually.  So hopefully this blog will be a place for me to bounce around my thoughts on whatever it is that's on my bookshelf at the time.  I read anything from the classics (I was an English major), contemporary fiction, Young Adult fiction (whatever, Twilight was awesome) and beyond.  Because, after all...