The Running Bibliophile

I first read Charlotte's Web by E.B. White 30 years ago in the spring of 1989 as an almost 10 year old in the fifth grade. It was not a book I chose to read as it was required reading for my class to prepare us for middle school and all the books we would be required to read. Of the two books we were required to read that year, this was the one I actually enjoyed, with the exception of the ending. This was the first book I read that actually made me cry. Charlotte's Web tells the story of a pig named Wilbur and how he is saved from death a couple of times, first by a little girl named Fern and then by a spider named Charlotte who befriended Wilbur when he was lonely because none of the other farm animals would play with him. The story follows the friendship between the pig and spider until Charlotte's death. Charlotte's death is what really got to me as a kid and as an adult rereading the book. What made it even worse was that she died alone, and no one should ...

Not knowing a thing about Chevy Stevens' book That Night , I decided to purchase it from ThriftBooks.com . Within a couple of days of receiving it, I began reading it, and it immediately sucked me in. There were several things I loved about That Night . One of those things was that the chapters alternated from the present day to past years. This kept the book interesting and me engaged. I think that if Chevy Stevens had started from the beginning of the story, it wouldn't have kept my attention quite as well and wouldn't have had the impact it had. Additionally, the relationships in the book were right on target, especially the way teenagers act in high school. The gossip and mean girl syndrome were right on par, and the way adults tended to believe Shauna over Toni was very believable as well. Who hasn't encountered a Shauna at some point in their life? The relationship between Toni and her sister Nicole seemed very believable to me, but being an only child, I do...

Reading Ramona the Pest (Ramona Quimby, #2) by Beverly Cleary as an adult for the first time ever was a delight. How did I never read this book as a child? Maybe if this had been recommended to me by a teacher or librarian, I would have enjoyed reading in elementary school a lot earlier than I did. Beverly Cleary did an amazing job of capturing how a five year old acts in kindergarten. I felt like I was back in school again. When I was in kindergarten, there was a morning class and an afternoon class. Unlike the book, we didn't have nap time because there wasn't enough time with such a short day. I enjoyed that the kids were in charge of certain things in the classroom like passing out the art supplies because that sort of thing was a huge deal when I was a kid. I loved the fact that Ramona misunderstood a few things that her teacher said because kids of that age often misinterpret what is said by adults by no fault of their own, and they often do things that they ...

The six books listed below were required reading for me in middle school. I'm sure the list has changed quite a bit since then, but as a late bloomer to reading, all but one of these books made me love reading that much more. I plan on rereading all of these books so I can review them with a fresh perspective and see if they are still just as great as I remember. Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls: Originally published in 1961, this novel takes place in the Ozark Mountains where Billy Colman adopts two dogs with the intent of training them to hunt.   The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis - First published in 1950, The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe was the first book published in the Narnia series and is the most popular. Four siblings are relocated to a country home during a wartime evacuation. While keeping themselves occupied, Lucy, the youngest of the siblings, finds a whole new world called Narnia by going through a wardrobe in one of the sp...

When I was a teenager, one of my favorite authors was Katherine Applegate. Her books were almost always a teen romance or a teen drama that was similar to that of the television show Beverly Hills, 90210 . I was always left with wanting more, which just goes to show you that Katherine Applegate is a talented writer. With that being said, I wanted to see if one of my favorite book series by her stood the test of time, so I picked up my copy of Ocean City (Ocean City, #1) , and I was not disappointed. Kate Quinn and best friend Chelsea Lennox head to Ocean City, Maryland without their parents for the summer for a chance to be on their own before they head off to college in the fall. Things go horribly wrong when their housing falls through. They are forced to rent an expensive five bedroom house with a boathouse on the bay and scramble to find roommates to help with the rent. What I remember thinking when I first read Ocean City (Ocean City, #1) was that all the characters se...

If you're like me and love Friday the 13th, you'll want to read a book that oozes of creepiness. One such book that does just that is Ruth Ware's The Turn of the Key . It had me on edge the entire time, and if I didn't have to work in the morning, I would've stayed up all night to finish this novel; it was that good. The Turn of the Key had me guessing the entire time, and I never had an inkling of who the killer was. Ruth Ware did her job well because she lead me astray the entire time, and I bought into it hook, line, and sinker. On top of that, there were a couple of twists towards the end of the book that left me completely speechless because I didn't see those coming either! What can I say, I must be off my deduction game. When I finished this book on Wednesday night, all I could think was, "Wow . . . wow . . . wow!" As I said before, I was speechless, but it also left me feeling a bit uneasy, and I was jumping at the least little noi...

When Influenster.com contacted me to let me know I was receiving a voxbox with a product in it for me to review, I was ecstatic. I was even happier when I realized it was an under eye concealer because I always have dark circles due to extremely bad allergies. I'm just about allergic to everything outside! Since I work from home, I don't always wear makeup like I use to when I had to go into an office, so one of the first chances I had to test out the Boi-ing Cakeless Concealer by Benefit Cosmetics of San Francisco was when I went to see the Broadway show Cats when it was in Atlanta. It was the perfect time to try it out because I had bronchitis, and the circles under my eyes were exceptionally dark. The Boi-ing Cakeless Concealer went on smoothly and was cakeless as promised by Benefit Cosmetics of San Francisco. It blended well into my foundation and the concealer actually matched my skin tones extremely well. Most makeup tends to be too dark for me, even the li...

Whenever I shop by BJ's Wholesale Club, I always make sure to stop by their book section as I can usually find a book I want to read at a huge discount compared to other stores. I was disappointed to find that they had a much smaller selection than they normally do . . . they went from two tables to one table. However, I did have a moment of nostalgia when I saw a book by Mary Downing Hahn on the table with a title of The Girl in the Locked Room:  A Ghost Story . I discovered this particular author when I was in middle school and fell in love with her storytelling. So, when I saw this book at BJ's, I had to have it. Since I wasn't the the target audience of the book, I'd give it four out of five stars because I knew what the outcome would be pretty much from the get go. The Girl in the Locked Room:  A Ghost Story was a bit reminiscent of The Doll in the Garden:  A Ghost Story , but it didn't quite have the same creepiness and suspense as the latter.  Even w...