AKA Bookshelf: Water For Elephants

 

Monday is here! We are so ready to start off a new week with a great book review. We have both been doing a lot more reading since our commutes have started to include public transportation. I picked up Water For Elephants at a garage sale in the Fall since I had heard the movie was fantastic and because it was only 25 cents. 

This book did not disappoint. The author, Sara, completely encapsulated you in the world of a 1930's traveling circus. The sights, smells, and sounds felt so real. The story is about a young man named Jacob (played by Robert Pattinson in the film) who joins the circus at the veterinarian. He falls in love with one of the performers, Marlena (played by the always fabulous Resse Witherspoon). It is a great story filled with memorable characters and an easy-to-follow plot line. 

I am excited to watched the movie and bumped it up on my Netflix queue! 

I definitely recommended this book for a quick easy read to bring to the beach or on vacation! 

Any other good books out there that I should read? Let us know in the comments! 

-A

AKA Bookshelf: The Circle

I've had my eye on the novel The Circle by Dave Eggers for quite awhile. Admittedly I have my own conspiracies about large corporations and I was excited to see a novel explore the idea and darkness behind a large scale tech company.

The book explores a Google like company, but one that surpasses Google in size, scope, earnings and influence. The main character is introduced as an unhappy, listlessly working post grad. I could definitely identify with parts of her as I imagine many recent post grads could. She gets a mediocre job but at the dream company; The Circle. Things are looking up for Mae as she starts her job for one of the most coveted employers in the world.

The longer Mae works at The Circle however the more we discover about the company. The pressures, the surveillance and the expectations of both the employees and the public involved with the company. The heat gets turned up and everyone's privacy diminishes.

I enjoyed the book but not as much as I had hoped or expected I would. Because I have my own ideas about these large companies I had a narrative I was hoping the book would follow. So in some ways I was setting myself up for failure. Eggers was writing the story not me.

We follow Mae down the rabbit hole but not in the way I was hoping. I felt like Eggers was going to take it further. We were beginning with such an exaggerated company that I was hoping the whole story would be over the top. In ways the story went overboard but in the end I felt like the book needed more and at the same time needed editing. The book is about 500 pages but there are some things introduced yet barely explored.

Although I was a bit disappointed with the book I still recommend it as an intriguing read and as an interesting reflection on current society and our relationship with technology as well as where that relationship can go.

-K

Revisiting Classics

With the new school year upon us I thought I would take us back to high school English and the reading lists that haunted your dreams, weekends, and summer vacations. Now that I am older I have a new appreciation for some of these books that we were supposed to understand at the time (aka when we were 16.. I don't think so)

Here are some of my favorite class reads that I highly recommend that you revisit!

The Color Purple

Fahrenheit 451

Lord of the Flies

The Catcher in the Rye

Romeo and Juliette

Pride and Prejudice

1984

To Kill A Mockingbird

The Great Gatsby

I have re-read some of these recently and it's truly amazing how much your perspective can change in 8 years!

-A

AKA Bookshelf: Girl With A Pearl Earring

Is anyone else out there a fan of movie/book comparisons. Umm... who am I kidding I think a lot of people are. A little late in the game but I finally read Girl With A Pearl Earring, and I am now excited to curl up with tea, paint my nails, and read the latest issue of Vogue while watching it this weekend.

Chevalier's book cover

I've been on a super reading kick recently, I looked at the pile of books next to my bed and decided to tackle it as my summer project. Some are classics that I haven't picked up in years some are light-hearted reads that I have picked up at garage sales and thrift stores over the past couple of years. 

Most recently I dug into 1600's Amsterdam in the wonderful fiction telling of one of the most famous paintings from that time. Girl With A Pearl Earring was a quick read that followed the life of a young fictional girl, Greit, as she becomes a maid for the real life painter, Johannes Vermeer and his family. While this book doesn't keep you on your toes, showcase stressful fashion jobs, or transport you to a land of broomsticks and golden snitches, it is the prefect book to pick up an read while on vacation with the fam or on a girls weekend at the beach this summer. It's lighthearted and the author, Tracy Chevalier, keeps building tension between the two main characters throughout the entire novel - like 1600's 50 Shades of Grey  (okay not quite - but there is some tension).

Movie poster - now this shows the tension!

It also got me thinking of other book-to-movies. I love to read the book before I watch the movie, so if you haven't read Wild, Gone Girl, Mockingjay, or 50 Shades of Grey I highly recommend watching them before they come out in theaters this year!

Happy reading (and watching)

-A

AKA Bookshelf: How Should a Person Be?

This book is strange, unique, a little confusing and great all at the same time. 

It sounds like a self help book, reads like a twisted memoir but is defined as a novel.

 I finished the book about 2 weeks ago and it is still lingering in my mind - in a good way. Partly because it is so strange but mostly because it made me think. Think about myself and relationships and ultimately how I think a person should be. 

The book begins in a bad marriage and ends in self discovery. It is smart and witty and often very real. It discusses the not so pretty side of relationships and the tough choices we are often faced with while trying to better ourselves and figure out the kind of person we wish to be. 

The book drops you into Sheila's life while she is in a tough transition. You follow her around in her everyday interactions and slowly realize you are moving along with her. You are leaning while she is learning and reflecting while she is reflecting. The book is not flashy or overdone. The simplicity is what makes the book so great. It is relatable even if your life is not like Sheila's. You may have a friend like her or been through a transition like her. She asks her self tough questions through out the story and they are ones to pay attention to and think about for yourself. 

This is the first novel I've read by author Sheila Heti but it will not be my last. She writes in a style unlike any other and it felt refreshing to read work from an interesting intelligent woman. 

Happy reading!

-K

AKA Bookshelf: Orange is the New Black

A few months back I was given Orange Is the New Black the book, as a gift. I was reading something else at the time so it sat on my shelf. Then more recently I had a particularly strong case of insomnia/ Netflix bingeing and I rewatched the entire first season of Orange. When the show was over my appetite was not.

I'm greatly anticipating the second season but that will not be here til June! So I did the next best thing and read the book.

Both the show and the book follow Piper, a young, pretty, white woman as she goes through the ups and downs of her year in a womens prison. She is quite out of place in her new environment but stumbles her way through to make friends and figure out how to survive while in prison.  While the book is a true story/memoir of Pipers experience, the show deviates greatly from reality.

I am sad to report that for the first time ever in my life the movie or in this case the show is better than the book. The book is just underwhelming in my opinion. I'm in no way saying the book is badly written, it is just not my style. It was hard for me to relate to Piper Kerman and to view her as a likable character.

In all honesty I do not watch the show for Piper so maybe I should have known the book wasn't going to completely grab me as it is Piper's memoir. I feel as if Piper attempts to be relateable and to acknowledge her privilege but there was just something that rubbed me the wrong way about the book. Yes she experienced prison and went through hardship but her experience is so greatly different than so many of the other women. I felt like the book became so notable and popular because she was a pretty upper middle class white woman going through the system, rather than it being an amazing story or an amazing book. While that is not her fault I feel as if it is unfair that this story is so prized over others, but I guess a nice white girl getting put away is more of a story than that of other women.

The show is at best loosely adapted from the book. Maybe it was unfair to watch the show and then dive into the book, for the book is lacking in the drama and the drive that makes the show so interesting and entertaining. It was however entertaining to match characters and situations from Pipers real life to that of the show, and  how some of the great moments in the show were from real people with real names and emotions.

Again it wasn't a bad book I just didn't have a connection to the writing or to Piper. It was interesting and a quick read but my love is for the show and the amazing cast of characters it has put together. I'd love to hear your thoughts on both the book and show!

And be sure to check out a little teaser trailer for the second season of Orange due out on Netflix June 6th by clicking here.

-K

Welcome to the new AKA BLOG!!!

Hello everyone!!

At a friend's Valentine's Day party

Welcome to our new site!! We are still in shock that we won a re-design contest. It was such an exciting time to really think about all that we wanted to feature on our blog and how we wanted it to look.

We couldn't have done any of this without the help of Chris over at Hubby Jack. He did a wonderful job with the re-design! Don't you agree?!? He designed all of our new social media buttons, our header, and our new "grab button" on the right side of the screen as well as did the entire layout of the site. We are so grateful and appreciative of all his hard work.

We took our time while working on our redesign to really think about what we wanted to write about and feature on AKA. We decided that we wanted things to be more organized as well as to feature more content. We want to start different weekly or monthly series, start writing about fashion more, and showing more of our day-to-day discoveries.

Exploring wine country 

Here are some things to look forward to:

- Fashion Fridays; we are going to write about our favorite fashions from the week. Sometimes it will be us, sometimes friends, and sometimes someone we just saw on the street.

- We're Obsessed; a fun way to find out about little things we are "obsessing" over. From makeup, to TV, to music and fashion!

- AKA Bookshelf; a little mini book club. We will talk about what we are reading and hopefully our readers will help us find new books.

- Interweb Goodies; we will feature some of the fun things we have find weekly on the web; bloggers, articles, funny things!

- Amazing Aps; our favorite and most useful apps for our phones.

- Monthly Mood; a space for us to talk about what is inspiring us for that month and what we are looking forward to.

- Bring Your Pins To Life; what we are crafting/cooking/DIY-ing/styling from everyone's fav website Pinterest.

Kira's delicious muffins - recipe to follow 

With this new layout, some of you maybe thinking - where do I find everything? Well let us tell you!
At the top of the page under our beautiful new header you will find our different tabs. Everything will be in the main blog but we will organize most posts into one of the tabs:

-Series; everything that you saw above will be in this new tab

-Wear; fashion, make-up, accessories, beauty, hair

- Explore; our travels and adventures

- Cook, Create, Celebrate; a fun place for everything that we are cooking and eating, crafts we are making, and parties we are planning and attending!

Painting in the park

With all of these new fun changes we also are going to be using our social media a lot more! Make sure to follow us on our Twitter, Instagram, Bloglovin, Ashley's Pinterest, and Kira's Pinterest! We are constantly putting up information about our blog, things that are inspiring us, and our fun adventures!

Additionally, with the switch to Blogger it is really easy to follow our blog! On the right hand side of the page under "followers" you can sign up to follow along with us!

Thanks for all of the constant love and support we are loving this whole blogging thing and really excited to see where it takes us!

-A&K

Pie for Pi Day!