Thinkin' About The HodgePodge

It seems to me I missed a few HodgePodges here and there.

Whoops! 

Time seems to be escaping me a lot these days.

But then, that means my days are busy and full,

and I can't really complain about that! 

1. Do you own a Bike? When was the last time you rode a bike?

I haven't been on a bike in ages.

I think I still have one tucked away somewhere at my parent's house, though. 

2. What's something you learned in school that wasn't part of the curriculum?

The incredibly high value of a best friend.

3. What's a food you've never tried and want to? 

And something you've tried but never want to try again?

I'm pretty good about not discounting a food before I've tried it,

and I'm pretty adventurous with my eating habits,

so this was an interesting and challenging question for me!

Never Tried: Anything ethnic and homemade from somewhere I've never been. 

How's that for vague? 

Never Want Again: Venetian Pizza 

Pizza in Italy is to die for. Really.

But in Venice? Their "traditional" pizza?

Capers & Anchovies?

NEVER again.

4. Have you been demanding more or less of yourself lately?

As an only child and a perfectionist,

I think it's hard for me to demand even more of myself than I already do.

However, I think in general I always have really high expectations.

That makes life complicated sometimes,

but it's who I am and how I am,

so I know how to handle it and deal.

5. Who is your favorite villain? 

He Who Must Not Be Named

It's true, I love Harry Potter and everything associated with the series.

But for a lot of good reasons (or at least I think so).

But, Voldemort? He's one of my reasons.

It's so easy to create a villain that disgusts and makes you cringe.

Or one who causes you nightmares and makes you glad they don't really exist.

But it takes a real genius to create a villain that you can understand.

One who is not the blacked of black souls,

or never had any good or light in their lives.

What JKR does so brilliantly is that she casts all of her characters in such realness

(which considering her books are about magic and fantasy is impressive in its own right).

Harry isn't all good.

Snape isn't all bad.

Even Voldemort isn't rotten to the core like so many other villains out there.

Look where he came from, what he was fighting against.

He does the things he does because he's afraid of death. 

He can't comprehend his own mortality.

 How many of us can say we don't feel the same as him?

JKR is brilliant.

Voldemort is the best villain there is.

6. How concerned are you about identity theft?

It freaks me out, a lot, but it's not usually at the front of my mind.

I try to be mindful of where, when, and how I give out personal information,

and how I dispose of things like receipts and mail.

But it's not something at the forefront of my mind.

7. Would you rather have an extraordinary home in an ordinary place 

or an ordinary home in an extraordinary place? 

I think this is the hardest question, because it matters how you define home.

For me home is a feeling, 

whereas house is the physical building.

So with that definition I'd want an extraordinary home in an ordinary place.

But if you mean 'home' as the physical place,

then I'd totally want the ordinary home in the extraordinary place.

Does that make sense?

8. Random Thought:

This is AMAZING!

If you haven't seen it yet please make sure you watch.

I want to play guitar in space! 

TTT: Judging A Book By Its Cover

We're always told not to judge a book by its cover. But this week over at The Broke and the Bookish? We're being asked to do (kinda) just that. This week's list is one of the top ten covers of any book you've ever read. And this? This is kind of a daunting task, seeing as I've read quite a few books. 

So what I'm going to go for with this list is the top ten books I've read that I picked up primarily by their  covers and loved for everything that was encapsulated between them. 

1. A Discovery of Witches - Deborah Harkness 

2. The Night Circus - Erin Morgenstern

3. Kings of Colorado - David E. Hilton

4. Matched - Ally Condie

5. Water For Elephants - Sara Gruen

6. The Book Thief - Markus Zusak

7. The Tales of Beedle the Bard - J.K. Rowling (UK Edition)

8. Snow Falling on Cedars - David Guterson

9. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone - J.K. Rowling

10. The Phantom Tollbooth - Norton Juster

I really think the cover of a book is incredibly important. It has to give you a visual taste without giving too much away. It has to intrigue you and make you want to flip it over and read the back cover. It has to make sense to the story, and the best ones are the ones that once you've finished reading it you look back and the cover carries so much more meaning than you realized.

I would love to design book covers. Wouldn't you?

Which ones are your favorites?

TTT: Tough Stuff

This week's topic for Top Ten Tuesday (hosted by The Broke and The Bookish) is the top ten books dealing with tough/difficult topics. As you can imagine, this week's lists are probably not going to be that uplifting. 

But, still. Books with tough topics are an important part of literature. They provide an outlet for people - both for those who write them as well as those who read them. Not necessarily the easiest reads, but often times the most important and empowering.

1. Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

2. Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

3. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

4. Looking For Alaska by John Green

5. The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

6. A Million Little Pieces by James Frey

7. The Perks of Being A Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

8. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer

9. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

10. To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee

I know there are a lot more that I've read, but these are the big ones that come to mind today for me. I'm not going to give much if any of a description of these books and why I feel the way I do about them here, because a few of them have really big plot twists associated with my feelings about the books. And no one likes a spoiler, especially when they're not looking for one. But, you can go read the reviews I wrote for some of them (especially Thirteen Reasons Why - I think this is the best example of a  tough stuff book being written and used they way it ought to be used). 

My only advice for you then? Read these books. I promise you they'll change your life in some way or another. They may haunt you for a while, or lift you up at the end. But you won't forget them.

What about you? What are the best Tough Stuff books you've read?