#TBT: Touch of Disney

This week's #TBT is a touch of Disney.  I moved to Florida when I was five, and have lived here since - going on thirty years I have been in Florida and I've fallen in love with Disney and yes (Disney addicts please put your pitch forks down...) there are times when it does annoy the crap out of me.  However, I will forever love going to the parks and spending all day there just wandering, snapping pictures, meeting characters, and riding the rides.

There are also books that have been adapted by Disney, some of these are my favorite renditions of the stories, and others...well, not so much.  However, there has been a few characters that have always been among my favorites, and their books among my favorite childhood memories and comfort reads.  Here are a few of them.

Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore, Rabbit, Owl, Tigger, Kanga, Roo...Christopher Robin..all of them are childhood favorites.  However, it was Winnie-the-Pooh, that rolly, polly, stuffed with fluff teddy bear that had my heart from the beginning.  I have several Pooh bear items - key chains, beanie babies, pillows, and I think at one point I had a complete bed sheet set.  Yup, I was addicted.

I have -always- been a fan of Alice in Wonderland, Through the Looking Glass, etc.  The world created by Lewis Caroll has always fascinated me.  The stories that were spun about Wonderland and the people that inhabit it have always been ones that fascinate me.  Cheshire I think is one of my all time favorites from this series - though I have been known to be as spastic as the White Rabbit and as annoyed as the Queen of Hearts.  Some of my favorite scenes are the tea party, the conversations with Caterpillar, and falling through the rabbit hole.  I think I actually had this particular version of Alice in Wonderland when I was a kid. Though, I could be wrong.

#TBT: My First Historical Romance

So very, very true.  This week's Throwback Thursday (#TBT) is a book that is very near and dear to my heart.  This book was given to me when I was sixteen, it was sent to me by my Aunt as a birthday gift.  At the time, I had no idea that it was the fourth book in the series, all I knew is that I'd fallen in love with the characters, the world, the history that enriched every page of this very large book - 1,070 pages.  

At the time, I'd never read anything in this particular genre.  Nor, had I read anything this large (aside from textbooks because I was in high school at the time).  The size of this book intimidated me, it made me nervous.  Could I actually read a book this large cover to cover?  Would I like it?  Why had my aunt sent me something so big? My fears were at the time well placed, and ultimately the reason she'd sent me the book was because she knew I loved reading and thought I'd like the book.  I did read it.  No, I devoured it - cover to cover.  All one thousand and seventy pages.  Did I like it? More than like, I loved it.  

What book am I talking about? Diana Gabaldon's Drums of Autumn book four in her Outlander series.  Jamie and Claire easily became my all time favorite couple, Black Jack Randall easily became my favorite villain.  I loved absolutely everything about this story, to the point that when I was attending college at Flagler in St. Augustine, FL, there was a second-hand bookstore close to campus and I bought the first three books in the series, as well as book number five.  I am still missing book number six in the series.  

When I heard that Outlander was going to become a television series, I think I seriously fangirled.  I absolutely love the fact that this world has been brought to the screen and everything about it is perfect, is wonderful, and I'm reminded of all the reasons I fell in love with this series in the first place. 

#TBT: The Lord of the Flies

Welcome to the revival of my throwback Thursday theme! Each week I will revisit a book that has a memorable impact upon me in the history of me reading.  This week's book is definitely one of those that has had a great impact on me and is one of my best memories from high school.

The Lord of the Flies by William Golding

Most of you know the premise of this book, what it stands for and what it exposes about our society in general.  This compelling novel is as much a provocative, debate starting book as it was in 1952 when it was first published.  This is one of the few books that will ALWAYS be in my library in some way, shape or form (digital or print).  

I do enjoy reading it and taking it in and allowing it to remind me of exactly what humanity is capable of when pushed to its limits.  Not all situations are ideal, not all outcomes are ideal.  

My most memorable interaction with this book was in my 10th grade English class. This was shortly after I'd changed schools thanks to moving literally across the street from where I'd been living before.  We spent a couple of weeks to a month working with this book between tests, papers, projects, and reading the book.  

During each class meeting, we would have five minutes at the beginning of class and about five to ten minutes at the end of class where we would be allowed to interact with the teacher.  The moment the lights flicked off and then back on, we were essentially in an environment where we were not allowed to interact with adults (namely the teacher - with exceptions of course).  We were given our assignments and had to complete them together to the best of our ability.  

I remember my final project for this particular unit, and wish I could find the picture (I might have it somewhere if one exists).  I created an edible version of the island where the boys spent their time. It was cake, and various little plastic pieces that could be removed - and there was green frosting, and the whole nine yards.  I'd gotten an A in the course. 

Throwback Thursday: My First Historical Romance

Welcome to another edition of Throwback Thursday.  I realize I missed a couple of weeks, but I think you'll forgive me, at least I hope you'll forgive me.  Today is a very special throwback, to the first historical romance that I was given at the age of sixteen.  It was my introduction to the world crafted by Diana Gabaldon in her Outlander series, of which I have now become obsessed with, and am currently only missing like 3 books in to have them all.

When I turned sixteen, I'd gotten a package from my aunt, and it was thick.  I wasn't entirely sure what it was, but I had at least the idea that it was a book.  Little did I know, that the novel she'd sent me would suck me in whole-heartedly and have me addicted to this wonderful romance between Claire Randall and James Fraser and the rich history of Scotland.

It took me a day or two to actually gather the courage to read the book, because it was thicker than most of the books that I'd read up until that point.  Also, I'd not been an avid reader until I'd finally sat down and read this book - which took me all of two and a half days to read.  880 pages was intimidating despite the fact that I was sixteen and should have been reading more than what was required of me in high school.  Do I regret not reading a whole lot when I was in high school - most definitely, however, I have since made up for it now that I am older.

Gabaldon's descriptions are phenomenal and you can't help but get sucked in by the story she has weaved of Brianna's own step into the past to find her mother and the father she's never met.  To be the daughter of an eighteenth-century Scotsman and a twentieth-century woman, has got to be something that makes growing up interesting especially when you discover who your father actually was.

This series is one that I will always have with me, and eventually I will complete it.  This is one that I ultimately prefer to have in physical copy.

Throwback Thursday: Where The Wild Things Are

Title: Where The Wild Things Are

Author: Maurce Sendak

Read: Recently – May 16th, 2013

Rating: 5/5

Recommend: Most definitely

Summary: One night Max puts on his wolf suit and makes mischief of one kind and another, so his mother calls him 'Wild Thing' and sends him to bed without his supper. That night a forest begins to grow in Max's room and an ocean rushes by with a boat to take Max to the place where the wild things are. Max tames the wild things and crowns himself as their king, and then the wild rumpus begins. But when Max has sent the monsters to bed, and everything is quiet, he starts to feel lonely and realises it is time to sail home to the place where someone loves him best of all. (Taken from Goodreads)

Review: This book here is by far one of my favorite books, ever. I loved the story, the delight in it. The fear that was held within those pages. I always wanted to be Max, I'd always wanted to be able to sail away on my own ship and become King, well in my case Queen, of the Wild Things. However, I would always remember that I was loved, cherished and belonged with my family, just like the Wild Things belonged on their island.

It was one of those books that got me hooked on the 'scary' things, that opened my eyes to the fact that I could love the things that scared me. That I could find enjoyment in that thrill, find an enduring friendship with those fiendish characters that fill the pages of books. Occasionally I re-read this book, to return to my roots and the first book that 'scared' me when I was a kid. That let me know what fear was.