Imagine

Post #105: Dedicated to: Baby When the Lights Go Out; Five

I say this all the time. Books are amazing. I love reading. They take me to a faraway place where I don't have to be me. I live the lives of the characters for just a little bit.

I just wish I had all the time in the world and all the money in the world to buy and read all the books I ever wanted to. I used to be that girl...the one who everyone thought was crazy because I'd rather stay up until 5 am finishing a book I just bought instead of sleeping like normal people. And of course, I'd be just fine (albeit a tad tired) at school the next morning. Oh, how I wish life were still that simple.

Now, I've become another girl. One who hands down will choose sleeping over reading, because sleeping is hard enough to come by as it is. Sometimes (no, not sometimes...all the time) I really wish I was someone who did not need, or even want, a lot of sleep. I wish I could live off 4-5 hours a day – and function perfectly fine, without getting cranky – and I would wake up early, and be productive in the morning. Productive reading, writing, doing homework, whatever. Just not sleeping. At the moment, though, this scenario is more than highly unlikely. It's impossible.

But anyway...some of my favorite reads this winter break:

- 13 Reasons Why, by Jay Asher. I started (and finished) this book during finals week. (yes, I should probably have been doing work instead of reading. was it worth it? of course it was.) A bit dark and creepy, considering the entire plot of the story revolves around a dead girl who pretty much haunts the 13 people who she blames (ish) for her suicide. But an amazing read, regardless. Makes you think of what impression you make on other people, and how tiny actions that may not mean anything to you might affect those around you.

- Only the Good Spy Young, by Ally Carter. 4th book in a series of (hopefully only) 6. I've been following this series for a while now...and as great as they are, I must say, I really am not a fan of series. Or at least, the whole waiting for the next book to come out part. Because the next installation in this series comes out next year. Yeah. Like, in 12-13 months. Ah, well. Anyway, I feel like these books draw out the inner CIA-wannabe in me and make me want to be like Sarah in Chuck. One of those...no family or friends anywhere so she turns to the CIA and becomes the best spy alive kind of girls. Which, again, is highly unlikely, if not impossible. But a girl can dream, right?

- Leap Day, by Wendy Mass. This book was on sale at Borders for only $1.99. I always worry about books being on sale. Why are they so cheap? Did they not sell? Does this mean they are horrible books and no one wants to read them so books stores everywhere are just trying to get rid of them? What's the deal? But I loved this book. (And had read it before...can't remember, where or when, though.) Loved it. Especially because it is in the exact style that I started writing my middle-grade novel. (One that I really really really really really hope to finish one day.) Also because it takes you into the minds of everyone around you. And not only that, but tells you all about their future and how things are going to end up – happily ever after, or not. And I love knowing what happens to everyone, even if they're not the main characters. Such a great steal and such a good read.

So this is it, at the moment. Yes, I should be arranging the boy band medley I've been meaning to get started on and need to finish before I'm back at school. Yes, I could have been reading books that I'll actually be reading this year in class, like Northanger Abbey or Atonement. But nope. I've been reading these books. These young adult, chick-lit-y, my-english-professors-would-disown-me-if-they-knew-I-read-and-enjoyed-these, books. And in the five days that are left between me and school, I'm going to read as many more as I can.