Exciting!!!!!

The Hush Sound is playing at the Avalon Theater on July 28! I'm so excited I think I might die!

http://www.theavalontheater.com/calendar/

Monday July 28
Doors open at 6:30 PM, Show at 7:00 PM
Tickets $12 advance/ $14 at the door

Woohooo!!!

The Big Read Top 100

So, I came across this website today. I thought it would be interesting to go through the list and see how many of the books I've read or started to read. I've seen other people do this on their own blogs, so I figured I'd give it a shot. The books I've actually read are in boldface and the books I've at least started to read but haven't finished are in italics. All the other bloggers out there should go through the list and see how many of these books they've read!

1. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien
2. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
3. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman
4. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling
6. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
7. Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne
8. Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell
9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis
10. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë
11. Catch-22, Joseph Heller
12. Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë
13. Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks
14. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier
15. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger
16. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame
17. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
18. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
19. Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres
20. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy
21. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
22. Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone, JK Rowling
23. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, JK Rowling
24. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, JK Rowling
25. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien
26. Tess Of The D'Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy
27. Middlemarch, George Eliot
28. A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving
29. The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck
30. Alice's Adventures In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
31. The Story Of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson
32. One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez
33. The Pillars Of The Earth, Ken Follett
34. David Copperfield, Charles Dickens
35. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl
36. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson
37. A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute
38. Persuasion, Jane Austen
39. Dune, Frank Herbert
40. Emma, Jane Austen
41. Anne Of Green Gables, LM Montgomery
42. Watership Down, Richard Adams
43. The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald
44. The Count Of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas
45. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh
46. Animal Farm, George Orwell
47. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
48. Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy
49. Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian
50. The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcher

51. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
52. Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck
53. The Stand, Stephen King
54. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
55. A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth
56. The BFG, Roald Dahl
57. Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome
58. Black Beauty, Anna Sewell
59. Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer
60. Crime And Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
61. Noughts And Crosses, Malorie Blackman
62. Memoirs Of A Geisha, Arthur Golden
63. A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
64. The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCollough
65. Mort, Terry Pratchett
66. The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton
67. The Magus, John Fowles
68. Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
69. Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett
70. Lord Of The Flies, William Golding
71. Perfume, Patrick Süskind
72. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell
73. Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
74. Matilda, Roald Dahl
75. Bridget Jones's Diary, Helen Fielding
76. The Secret History, Donna Tartt
77. The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins
78. Ulysses, James Joyce
79. Bleak House, Charles Dickens
80. Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson
81. The Twits, Roald Dahl
82. I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith
83. Holes, Louis Sachar
84. Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake
85. The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
86. Vicky Angel, Jacqueline Wilson
87. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
88. Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons
89. Magician, Raymond E Feist
90. On The Road, Jack Kerouac
91. The Godfather, Mario Puzo
92. The Clan Of The Cave Bear, Jean M Auel
93. The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett
94. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
95. Katherine, Anya Seton
96. Kane And Abel, Jeffrey Archer
97. Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez
98. Girls In Love, Jacqueline Wilson
99. The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot
100. Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie

Book Review: Eat Pray Love

Author: Elizabeth Gilbert


So, I was browsing through the library a few weeks ago and there was a display for Elizabeth Gilbert's Eat Pray Love, which was #1 on the New York Times Bestseller List. I figured, eh, why not, and picked it up.

This book is basically a chronicle of one year of the author's life, in which she sets out on a quest to regain her sense of happiness and fulfillment following a period of depression and a difficult divorce. Gilbert traveled to Italy, India and Indonesia on a "search for the self."

First off, I found Gilbert's writing style to be wonderfully inspiring. Her writing displayed vibrant personality and originality, and I found it to be at once lightly humorous and full of depth. My favorite part of this book was how Gilbert managed to portray the distinctive flavor of each of the cultures into which she traveled. The section on Italy--the origin "Eat" portion of the book's title--literally made me crave gelatto and authentic pizza. The section on India--"Pray"--had a very meditative atmosphere to it, and hence left me to quietly consider my own spirituality and faith. The final section, taking place in Indonesia--"Love"--contained many interesting messages on balance and the definition of personal fulfillment.

My only real complaint after reading this book was that it was a little awkward in places. Gilbert quite openly describes a very difficult period in her personal life, almost to the point where the reader feels slightly uncomfortable that the author has placed herself in such a vulnerable position. Or that's what I felt, at least.

I can see why this book topped the bestseller list. It is a smooth, comfortable read separated into short, manageable sections so that the book can easily be picked up in the reader's moments of free time. Gilbert digs deeply into common emotional issues--love, contentment, peace, fulfillment--and brings out very interesting points about human wants and needs. In the end, Gilbert leaves the reader with a very nice sense of simplicity, and the thought that maybe many of life's problems can be solved with three words: "Eat," "Pray," "Love."

Here goes...

So, I've decided to take a whack at blogging. I figure I'll need some way to update everyone on my life once I move out and start my big kid life at BYU. I mean, come on, how am I supposed to keep in contact with everyone when I can only call, text, email, and web conference? :)

Anyway, welcome to my blog!