The Gila Reads

Hello, fellow book nerds! It's the best day of the month, in which a bunch of us bloggers link up and find out what others are reading and inevitably lengthen our lists of books to be read.

This month I only read three books. I blame Angry Birds 2. Don't judge. It appeals to my violent side and it's much better for me to be taking that out on those stupid pigs than on, well, people.


The Divers Clothes Lie Empty by Vendela Vida - I read this for an In Real Life book club. I've never been part of one before but this one meets at a bar so it blows away the "let's pretend we're talking about books when we're really drinking" facade. The book is a quick read. It's about a woman who leaves behind her screwed up family life and travels to Morocco, where she immediately loses her passport, money and credit cards when someone steals her backpack. The narrative is second person, which was a little tough for me because I had JUST finished reading You. We never find out the main character's name, but she uses about five aliases. It seriously annoys me to not know a protagonist's name. I will admit, though, that initially I gave this book two stars but after the book club discussion I bumped it to three.


Bossypants by Tina Fey - I really enjoyed this lighthearted, easy read. While I didn't listen to the audiobook, it was almost like I was listening to Tina because I could hear her voice in the writing. If your a Fey fan, it's a safe bet that you'll like this, too.


W is for Wasted by Sue Grafton - I've read every single book in the alphabet series, although I think my first one was G and then I went back to the beginning. Kinsey Millhone is never a disappointment to me. I love that she's still stuck in the 80s with no cell phone and limited computer assistance. Her PI business relies on her Smith-Corona typewriter and her index card system. The only reason I gave this four stars instead of five is the length of it. In fact, I've owned this book probably since it first came out and only just got around to reading it because of how long it is. The first handful of books in this series are pretty short and then Grafton seemed to hit her stride, but with W I felt like there was a lot of unnecessary narrative. Nevertheless, I'm still a fan and I'll stick it out till the end. (X just came out and I won't wait as long to read it.)

What have you been reading?

Batting My Lashes

In case you're new around here, I'm pretty much a girly girl (who hates the color pink and loves football and movies like Die Hard). I love clothes, shoes, makeup, jewelry... I get my nails done every three weeks and my hair colored every five weeks.

My color may not be natural, but my curls are!

Recently I've become super annoyed with my eyelashes. I was sick to death of mascara ending up all over my face. OK, that might be a slight exaggeration. I've tried expensive mascara, I've tried cheap mascara. I've done false eyelashes for special occasions, but I don't want to do that everyday. Plus I suck at putting them on.

About a month ago I took the plunge and got eyelash extensions, and I can't tell you how thrilled I am with them! I'm going to attempt to show you the difference, but I feel like pictures (or at least pictures that *I* take) don't do it justice. So prepare yourself for big grainy photos of my eye.

This is a before pic, with mascara.

My initial appointment lasted about two hours. It was kind of weird at first - she kind of taped around my eyes and most of the time I could feel my eyeballs moving around and I just hoped that my eyes wouldn't open. But eventually I relaxed and I may have dozed off. Her goal is to make the lashes look natural so they're not going to be super long. She did ask "do you want them straight like yours or curled?" Um, curled, of course!

After. NO mascara!

The closed eye view. Duh.

I am in love with my lashes. No mascara, no eyelash curler. And honestly, I've hardly worn makeup at all since I had them done, which is nice in the summer. I had a total stranger comment that my eyelashes were beautiful, and last week my hairstylist asked me what kind of mascara I use.

It took a little getting used to at first. For the first couple days you're supposed to keep them dry (or as dry as possible). And I had to keep reminding myself to not rub my eyes, especially when I first woke up, but that's just a good practice anyway so ... bonus.

It's not cheap, but for me it was totally worth it, and when you get them touched up it's less expensive. I got mine touched up yesterday after 4 weeks and I probably could have gone longer (she praised me for how well I took care of them).

Four weeks old.

Have you ever had eyelash extensions? Tell me about it!

Books, Books Everywhere!

I'm even more excited than usual for this month's linkup with Steph and Jana because I have 5, count 'em, FIVE books to talk about and none of them were losers.

Saving Francesca by Melina Marchetta - This is a YA novel set in Australia and focuses on a teenage girl who is trying to fit in at a nearly all-boys high school while also dealing with some serious issues at home. I often feel like the phrase "coming of age" is overused, but I think the description is warranted here. Something about this book really spoke to me, and I was majorly rooting for Francesca. 5 stars


Dirty Rush by Taylor Bell - I gave this 4 stars on Goodreads but I should have given it 5 stars because this is the book that got me going full steam ahead again on reading. It's about a girl who has no intention of joining a sorority but ends up pledging and forges lifelong friendships. Wait, that sounds like me. It's true that I was in a sorority (Gamma Phi Beta) but let me tell you, my experience was nothing like the one portrayed in this book. I mean, the hardest thing we had to as pledges was memorize all the sisters' hometowns and majors. The scavenger hunt these girls had to do was completely disgusting. Also, fair warning, there's some hardcore language in this book. If you're offended by "fuck" and all its uses or by the "c" word, I would not recommend reading it. I, however, really enjoyed it.


What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty - This is my first Moriarty book, and I only heard of her because of this linkup and the multitude of bloggers who have read her books. Let's just say this won't be my last. The premise here is a woman who wakes up after a bump on the head with no memory of the last ten years. Her three children? No clue who they are. I loved the way the story unfolded and I couldn't put it down. 5 stars


Saint Anything by Sarah Dessen - I read this for the Literary Ladies Book Club. It's another YA book and generally speaking, the one-sentence description of it is very similar to "Saving Francesca:" teenage girl with difficult family life switches schools and makes new friends. Overall I loved the story and the characters but it only gets 4 stars because there were some plot points that were introduced and never explored further. But the little annoyances didn't affect my enjoyment that much, and I'm looking forward to reading more Dessen (this was my first, but she has lots of books out).


You by Caroline Kepnes - This book is fucked up. (And if you cringed at that sentence, definitely do not read the book.) It takes the reader inside the mind of a stalker and as horrified as I was by his actions, I also sorta liked the guy, which then horrified me about myself. There's a sequel coming out in early 2016 and I'll be jumping on it immediately. 4 stars, mostly because I would have questioned my sanity if I gave it 5 stars.


That's it for this month! What have you been reading lately?

Literary Ladies Reading Challenge Check-in

Last week I mentioned that I'm taking part in a reading challenge. Today I'm revealing my list. The categories in bold are the ones I've read (only two so far) and I'll give my reviews on those in August's Show Us Your Books linkup.

• A YA book - Saving Francesca by Melina Marchatta

• A book by a non-US author - What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty (currently reading)

• A book recommended by a blogger (or instagrammer/you-tuber/goodreads-er) - Dirty Rush by Taylor Bell, recommended by Christina

• A book that has been on your TBR list for a year or more - Life After Life by Kate Atkinson

• A book with a kickass female character - W is for Wasted by Sue Grafton - I've owned this book since it came out but for some reason still haven't read it. But since I know going in that Kinsey Millhone is one kickass woman, I knew this would qualify.

• A book that is (or will be) a movie or TV show) - Divergent by Veronica Roth - I started this a while back, didn't get very far, and set it aside.

• A book written by a comedian or celebrity, or a memoir - Handbook for an Unpredicable Life: How I Survived Sister Renata and My Crazy Mother and Still Came Out Smiling (with Great Hair) by Rosie Perez

• A book with a one-word title - You by Caroline Kepnes - This has been on just about every blogger's list of must-reads so I'm looking forward to it.

• A suspenseful book - mystery, thriller, book about revenge... - The Kind Worth Killing by Peter Swanson

• A book about summer, or with Summer in the title, or in any way related to summer - The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han

Friday Favorites 7/17

Brilliant title, right? Here are some of my favorite things from the past week:

• Saturday we went to Aaron's sister and brother-in-law's house for a fantastic party, complete with live band and fireworks.

Aaron and Cynthia dancing; Cynthia, Jim and Aaron

• 11 hours of sleep Sunday night - and yes, that involved going to bed at 7:30!

• Neighborhood Bastille Day party followed by karaoke send-off for a neighbor who is moving to Florida

That's What Friends Are For

• The second season premiere of "Leah Remini: It's All Relative" (Wednesdays at 9 ET on TLC). You can have your Real Housewives, but this show cracks me up!

• This silly girl

Once I turned on the hair dryer, she was outta there.

• Facebook connections - Try to follow me here. Friends of ours from college who now live in Florida are currently in Iowa while their son is at the Lutheran Summer Music program. I realized that another friend of ours, who used to sing with us at church here in Columbus and now teaches in Indiana, is currently on staff at the summer program. In Iowa. I commented on FB about it to my college friends, who found my Columbus friend and introduced themselves. Then my Columbus friend (who, by the way wasn't even born when we were in college!) texted me about it. THAT is one of the reasons I actually love Facebook.

Have a great weekend!

Book Talk

It's time for Show Us Your Books, the monthly linkup with Steph and Jana. I love this day, but unfortunately this month I'm not participating. I've only finished one book since the last post, though I'm close to finishing a second one, but I'm going to hold on to those until next month.

BUT, you'd best believe I'm checking out everyone else's book posts and you should, too. As I'm writing this, there are already 16 linkups, not including the hosts. There should be some great books to add to my list (not that I need more, but I'm always looking).

Also on the book front, in an effort to kick up my reading, I joined in on the Literary Ladies Summer Book Challenge. I'm not always great at challenges (see: every fitness challenge I've ever started) but if we're talking books, I can kick ass at that. I hope.

The challenge actually started June 21st and it goes until September 21st, but I just started last week. There are 10 categories and there are other rules, but really I'll be happy if I just get through the books I've chosen.

The categories are:

1. A YA book 
2. A book by a non-US author
3. A book recommended by a blogger (or instagrammer/you-tuber/goodreads-er)
4. A book that has been on your TBR list for a year or more
5. A book with a kickass female character
6. A book that is (or will be) a movie or TV show)
7. A book written by a comedian or celebrity, or a memoir
8. A book with a one-word title
9. A suspenseful book - mystery, thriller, book about revenge...
10. A book about summer, or with Summer in the title, or in any way related to summer

Next Tuesday I'll have a "check-in" post in which I'll tell you my list and give an update as to how far I've gotten.

Until then, keep reading!

SCOTUS: We Know Drama

If you watch TNT half as much as I do, you understand the title reference. Boom.

Last Friday I was in the waiting room of a doctor's office and frantically hitting "refresh" on the SCOTUS website on my phone. Just before I was called back, I saw the ruling on Obergefell v. Hodges and felt like I let out a breath that I had been holding. I can't even imagine the feelings my gay and lesbian friends were experiencing.

I've written before about my feelings on same-sex marriage and I've given a lot of thought to whether or not I'd address it again now, but (obviously) I decided to go ahead and do it.

I'm no political scientist or constitutional expert, but here's what I believe. It sucks that this had to get to the Supreme Court. But it sucks even more when states' rights are given more weight than human rights. When any one group of law-abiding citizens, whether blacks, women, gays, Jews, Muslims, and on and on, are treated as second-class, we should all be outraged. And if the court has to step in to prevent that, well that's why we have a Supreme Court.

As for those who now fear that their religious freedoms are being trampled, I certainly hope that they're interviewing heterosexual couples and making sure that they are not engaging in any activities that also might go against one's religious convictions. Stop picking and choosing which parts of the Bible to follow.

Actually, I take that back. It's hypocritical of me. Because the parts of the Bible that I choose to follow are:

"Love your neighbor as yourself" ~ Mark 12:31

and

"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" ~ Luke 6:31

And believe me, I struggle with those. But the fact is that atheists get married all the time. Is anyone asking them if they believe in God before issuing a marriage license or baking a cake? Does the florist ask if either party committed adultery? Because, you know, stoning.

Part of my point in all of this is that it just makes me sad that as a country we're spending time, energy and money on fighting with each other instead of fixing things like education, Social Security, poverty, not to mention fighting groups like ISIS. The more we argue with each other, the more vulnerable we are to outside threats.

Which brings me to the issue of racism. The horrific events in Charleston two weeks ago sparked the conversation about the Confederate flag. Look, if retailers want to sell Confederate paraphernalia, have at it. But it's appalling to me that state flags and license plates still have that symbol. And I'm disgusted that Rev. Pinckney's casket had to pass by that flag at the state capitol.

Now come reports that up to seven black churches have burned since the Charleston massacre. I've heard some say that it's not really seven, and not all of them are arson. But seriously, isn't just one too many?

Just taking down the Confederate flag will not eradicate racism. But I think that flag is not just a symbol of racism; it's also a reminder of the divide and Civil War that our country went through 150 years ago. And while it's an important part of our history, I don't think that as a country we need that reminder on state symbols. Again, it's just more arguing with each other.

“Can we all get along?” ~ Rodney King