My bookstore hunt around Minneapolis is complete! Throughout this exploration, I have eleven new books and five comic books in my collection. The three bookstores we traveled to include: Magers & Quinn, Book Trader, and Bone Shaker Books.

Magers & Quinn is located in the Uptown Shopping District in Minneapolis. I have been to this book store before, but it’s been a while. Upon entering the store, I immediately gravitated toward the fictional section. While shopping, I saw my Anatomy & Physiology lab professor from Winona State University! It’s refreshing having a conversation with one of my past professors especially because she still recognizes me.

I ended up buying four books because they were three or four bucks apiece! I liked this book store and I would go back.

The last place on our list was Boneshaker Books. This store is located right near the Augsburg campus in Minneapolis. The store itself is pretty tiny which I liked. My favorite part about this store is the used book section. Each book is around three-five dollars. The proceeds from the used book section go to helping to fund reading material for women in prison. The fact that the used books are cheap and go to a good cause made me want to purchase at least one book. I ended up finding two books while my roommate found four hardcover books worth around twelve dollars! I also talked with one employee who graduated from Winona State University! She and I talked about campus, past professors, and our experience. Boneshaker Books have a great atmosphere, polite employees, and interesting novels on the shelves. I definitely want to go back when I am back home over the summer.

The bookstore hunt is officially over, but this spring break has been memorable. I have so many different books to read and I am getting excited to read as I write this post. I definitely would go back to Boneshaker Books. I cannot wait for my summer to start so I can start flying through this wonderful reading material I have purchased.

Today, me and a couple friends explored some local book stores in Minneapolis. I absolutely love Barnes & Noble, but I wanted to find smaller book stores to support.

Once Upon a Crime is located in Minneapolis off of South Lyndale Ave. It’s filled completely with only mystery and crime stories. Once you walk in, you realize how small and adorable this store is. I really enjoyed that this store features local Minnesota authors. Jessie, the employee working is super knowledgeable and helpful.  She led us down to another room that contains discount mystery books. Me and my roommate spent at least an hour wandering this room and piling up hardcover books we wanted to read. I ended up purchasing three books: The Catalan Book of Secrets by Jessica Lourey, Privileged Information by Stephen White, and The Murder at the Vicarage Carriage by Agatha Christie. As we were leaving the store, Jessie gave us a free copy of her own book published!  She also gave me and my roommate an awesome tote bag that says “One More Book Won’t Hurt”.

This book store is terrific! I felt like I had a personal relationship with the store and the employee which is something you could never get at Barnes & Noble. I would easily go back to Once Upon a Crime again.

After Once Upon a Crime, we drove to Uncle Hugo’s Science Fiction Bookstore. As much as I love a good mystery, I also really enjoy a good science fiction & fantasy novel. I was amazed at all the Star Trek & Star Wars novels in the store. I ended up gravitating towards this book with this lovely cover called “The Court of the Air” by Stephen Hunt. The cover has an intricate air balloon on it and it definitely has more fantasy elements than science fiction. I would go back to Uncle Hugo’s. I opened up a discount membership for any future visits.

Tomorrow I start again on the book store adventure and I cannot be more excited.

Book Review Time!!!!! I love writing book reviews because books give me happiness in my life so whenever I finish a book, I get super excited to talk about it! Today I am writing about the latest book that I finished called Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige.

I found out about this book last summer. I was visiting Barnes & Noble aka. my favorite store in the entire universe and I saw that on a table they had excerpts of this book. I grabbed one because it’s free and I figured why not? I was sitting on my porch reading it and I was completely fascinated by the story. I was sad when the excerpt ended and I immediately added this book to my Goodreads list. I actually ended up buying this book when I went home with my boyfriend one weekend so it was sitting in near my desk and as soon as I finished Horns, I picked up the book.

I rated this book four stars on Goodreads. I absolutely loved the story! Our main character is Amy Gumm. She comes from a harsh life in the fact that her mother is addicted to medications and is unemployed. Amy often takes care of herself. She is sent home from school one day and a tornado whisks Amy away to Oz. She is shocked by the nature of Oz. It’s completely different from the original story. Dorothy is the ruler of Oz now and she is completely ruthless. There is a lot of violence in this book. I was definitely not expecting that from this novel. Amy is captured by Dorothy initially but escapes and ends up joining the Wicked Witches. She forms an alliance with the Wicked Witches and with their help they intend to take on Dorothy and help save Oz.

That’s the gist of the entire story. What I liked about this book is the descriptive details in the story. In each scene, I was picturing what it looked like in my head. The new Dorothy, how Oz looked destroyed, the glitter red disco balls & the constellation floor in Dorothy’s ballroom. It was told vividly where I could easily picture in my mind what Oz looked like. I also really enjoyed the characters. I like Amy a lot. I think she comes from nothing and really rises to take on Dorothy. I think her character is realistic too. Many of the choices she makes in the novel, I would definitely have done if I were in her situation.

I don’t want this review to go on forever and I certainly don’t want to spoil anything, but if you’re looking for something new to read, Dorothy Must Die should definitely be on your list. I loved the characters, the reinvented Oz and I can’t wait for the sequel! It’s called the Wicked Will Rise and it’s being released on March 31st, 2015. If you’re a fan of Oz, I think you will like this but even if you’re a newbie to the world of Oz-like myself, you will still find this book to be wildly entertaining.

CW: Horns has mentioned sexual assault and violence against women.

The feeling when you finish a book is so satisfying. I finished Horns last week and I got sidetracked but now I have time to actually write a full review on this book. I will be talking about spoilers so if you’re not interested in spoilers and want to read this book, stop reading this post right now!

I became interested in reading this book when I heard about the Daniel Radcliffe movie version coming out during Halloween. I wanted to see it in the theater, but my small town didn’t have it. I looked into this book and added it to my Goodreads list. I found out later that the writer of this book, Joe Hill, is the biological son of Stephen King. That made me more interested in reading it.

This book is about Ig Perrish. It’s a year after the rape and murder of his beloved girlfriend Merrin Williams. He wakes up the morning after her anniversary and discovers he has devil horns protruding from his skull. After discovering this, he realizes he can hear people’s deepest and darkest secrets. An example of this is when Ig visits his doctor regarding the horns, his doctor asks Ig if he should sleep with his daughter’s seventeen-year-old best friend. Ig realizes the amazing gifts his horns bring and he decides to track down who really killed Merrin.

What is so fascinating about this book, is that it didn’t play out like I thought it was going to. I thought the killer would be revealed in the last couple of pages. Instead, the killer is revealed very early on. In a section of the book, we find out more about the killer and how he displayed signs of narcissism and psychopathic tendencies.

This book is a fast read. Usually, I read books right before I go to bed, but this book I was taking with me everywhere and whenever I had any sort of free time, I would read this book because I wanted to know what happens! I felt the writing itself was intelligent and I really liked Ig Perrish as a character.

I would highly recommend this book and I think on Goodreads I gave it three stars! It was really enjoyable but I wouldn’t rank it one of my all-time favorite books. If you’re looking for a mystery with a fantasy aspect to it, this is the perfect book for you!

Happy Friday everyone! This weekend I am planning on staying in and reading, studying, and working out! It’s nice having relaxing weekends to lay around the house and read and write. Currently, I’m reading Horns by Joe Hill but I decided to start this manga that I purchased.

Manga is fascinating in the fact that you read it from right to left. Each of the panels on each page is read from right to left as well. It took some getting used to, but eventually, I was able to pick up on the pattern.

This manga I was introduced to it by a high school friend of mine. Attack on Titan is about a city that lives in protection by a 50-meter-tall wall of concrete. This wall surrounds the entire city and protects the citizens from creatures called Titans. Titans are big giants that remind me of human giants with their skin peeled off. On the cover that I posted above, a Titan is that red-face muscle creature. Our main characters are Mikasa and Eren who live in the city.

I haven’t made it far in the manga yet but I think it’s fascinating. It’s kind of like the Japanese version of the Walking Dead. I have always been interested in Manga but I have never felt compelled to purchase it until last weekend in Milwaukee. There was this really cool comic book store and on the left-hand side, they had huge long shelves with Manga on them. That’s where I found Attack on Titan.

I hope to finish this soon and if I really do enjoy it, I might pick up the second book in the series. I might blog about a full review of what I think so stay tuned for that!

I am a huge reader. I have always been reading ever since I was young. Since winter break has started, I have been reading more because I have the time too! Here are the five books on my reading list that I hope I can read before the break is over

1. The Magician’s Nephew and the rest of the Chronicles of Narnia by C.S Lewis

I had the boxed set of all 7 books when my dad first bought it for me over 10 years ago! I have always wanted to read these books and I actually started the Magician’s Nephew before I went back to school. I kind of forget I even started reading the series but once I came home for break I realized I had to read these books.

2. It by Stephen King

I picked this up at my school’s library because I felt like I had nothing to read. I have always wanted to read this book because I am a fan of Stephen King’s novels. The length of this book is going to be the main reason why I won’t be able to finish it over break, but I will definitely make sure that I finish it by next year for sure.

3. Misery by Stephen King

This is my last Stephen King book on this list I promise! My mom told me she had this book and she gave it to me to read it. I have always watched the movie with Kathy Bates and she is so scary. If I don’t get a chance to finish it over break, I will bring it back with me to school and read it. Stephen King really knows his horror genre.

4. The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R Tolkien

I have always wanted to read Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings books. I tried last summer and it was hard for me to get past all of The Hobbit histories in the beginning so I stopped. I became a Lord of the Rings fan recently as the first time I watched the film was in the summer of 2012. I loved the movies and the story and the characters and that really has inspired me to go back and read these books at least once. I finished The Hobbit this semester and I can’t wait for the movie.

5. Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess

I watched this film in my Human Nature, Politics, and Violence class my freshman year of college. This film was violent. It turned me off at first. However, at the convention I usually go to, their theme this year is Dystopian Novels. Of course, I want to read all the dystopian novels I can get my hands on to prepare. This novel is a dystopian novel so I definitely want to read it. I don’t currently own this book but I will probably rent it from the library because I don’t really have an interest in owning a book.

So what’s on your reading list? I know I am going to have to get busy reading if I am going to finish or start some of these books. I can’t wait!