The Rory Gilmore Reading Challenge

Netflix recently added Gilmore Girls to the instant view, which I have gladly taken advantage of. I'm currently halfway through the second season, and let me just say, I'm obsessed! Rory and Laurelai's antics and relationship is absolutely adorable. And Rory being the genius she is, is shown reading 300 some books in the 7 seasons. Someone out there has compiled a sort of challenge to see how many of the books she's read that you've also read, and to eventually complete the list! Here I have all the books on the list, let me know how many you've read!
(the ones in bold are the ones I've read already!) I've read 22 so far, and I don't really intend on reading all of these, but it's still pretty neat!

 1984 by George Orwell
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll 
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon
An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser
Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
Archidamian War by Donald Kagan
The Art of Fiction by Henry James
The Art of War by Sun Tzu
As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
Atonement by Ian McEwan
Autobiography of a Face by Lucy Grealy
The Awakening by Kate Chopin
Babe by Dick King-Smith
Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women by Susan Faludi
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie
Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath 

The Book Spew

I don't think it's any secret that I like books. If we 're having a conversation involving books, or I happen to be in a book store with you, you will firsthand witness what can only be called the Book Spew. You've just entered into a one-way road to Carley's brain, where-surprise!-I think about books. Once you get me started, it's really hard to get me to stop. I will incessantly ramble about what I'm reading at the time, or what I want to read next, or what I read yesterday... You get the picture. And if we're in the bookstore or the library, you'll be hearing -

"Oh that book is good."

"That book is really good." 

"Oh you definitely need to read that." 

"Don't even look at that one. It was horrible."

"Oh I cried like a baby  during that one!"

You see what I mean? I'll be your walking library, with so many recommendations, you'll probably pick up a book and start reading just to get me to stop. So I say this as a warning, unless you actually want to hear it, be prepared to get books spewed all over you if you're within close proximity to me;)

Bargain Book Haul!

    Over the past couple weeks, I have found myself frequenting local thrift stores and garage sales, but what I always keep my eyes out for more than anything else is books. Books at these kind of places are usually placed anywhere from a quarter to a dollar- you really cant beat that! So whenever I find them, I pick up every single one that looks interesting, because I can't feel bad about buying a book that only cost me twenty-five cents! 

    I also got to go to a local library book sale, which was huge, and amazing! I was probably one of the only people there under the age of 50, but it made me really happy because I hope I still get as excited as those older people did over books when I get to be that age!
    Here is the cumulative list of the books I've gotten dirt cheap recently, adding to my ever growing To-Be-Read list!

The Casual Vacancy by JK Rowling
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton
The Hunt for Red October by Tom Clancy
Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta
White Oleander by Janet Finch
The Running Dream by Wendelin Van Draanen
Wonder by R J Palacio
Fire by Kristin Cashore
Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin
Julie and Julia by Julie Powell
We Bought a Zoo by Benjamin Mee


What are your bargain  book experiences? What are some of your favorite places to buy them? Let me know in the comments!

Top 10 Tuesday: Authors I Need to Read More Of

Top 10 Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by the Broke and the Bookish, where a new topic is chosen each week and everyone can make a post about it! This week's topic is Top 10 Authors I Need to Read More Of. I've got quite the list of these, and some of them are pretty surprising!

(Once again, in no order)

Tahereh Mafi- This is the author of the very hyped Shatter Me trilogy, of which I'm sad to say I've only read the first book! I loved it though, and I can't wait to get my hands on the next two!

Douglas Adams- This guy wrote The Hitchhikers Guide To the Galaxy. This book was hilarious, and I have all the rest of the books, I just haven't gotten around to them yet!

JRR Tolkien- We all know Tolkien. And I've only read The Hobbit! I know, its shameful. I need to delve deeper in to the lord of the rings universe, there's so much more out there!

William Shakespeare- I've read a couple plays by Shakespeare, but not nearly as many as I'd like. I think I've read Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Merchant of Venice, and Twelfth Night. I've still got a long way to go, and I plan on having them all read someday!

Jane Austen- This one is probably the most shameful of them all. I've only read half of Pride and Prejudice. That's it. That is the full extent of my Jane Austen experience. I really need to just buckle down, and commit to the Austen world. I just got distracted...

Bronte Sisters- Of the Bronte sisters, I've only read Wuthering Heights, and Jane Eyre. Both really good! But there's a ton more out there that I need to read. The Bronte Sisters are very interesting and dark people, and I can't wait to read more from them!

SE Hinton- The Outsiders is one of my favorite books of all time. And I know next to nothing about the rest of SE Hinton's books, but if the outsiders was that good, I figure the rest of her books are worth a shot!

JK Rowling- The Harry Potter series are my favorite books. They pretty much top anything. But since then, Jo has come out with 3 non Harry books, and I want to give them a try, if only to see what her other writing is like!

Johnathan Safran Foer- this is the author of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, of of my favorite books. He also wrote one called Everything is Illuminated, that's on the top of my TBR list!

Scott Westerfield- this guy is more well known for his Uglies series, but I didn't like that one and don't really plan on finishing it. However, he did write the Leviathan series, an awesome historical fiction/steam punk vs Darwinist/WWI retelling that was so cool, but I've only read the first book! Definitely want to finish those.

So that's it! Let me know in the comments what YOUR top 10 are, I'd love to hear from you!

Top 5 Books I Read This Summer

I didn't really do much besides read and sleep this summer. It was very relaxing! I read a total of 24 books this season, and if you want to see all of them, feel free to check out my June, July, and August wrap up posts! But today I'm going to share with you my top 5 favorite books that I read this summer! It's always difficult picking a top anything, but I managed! Here they are!

 (In no order, because come on, it was already hard enough for me to pick a top 5, you really expect me to pick a most and least favorite after that? Psh!)

If I Stay by Gayle Forman

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

Eragon by Christopher Paolini

Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas

You Know That Feeling?

  That feeling when you stay up until 3 AM reading a book because you just could not put it down, even though you have to get up in a couple of hours? When the ending is so astonishing you have to go text one of your friends about it even though you know no one in their right mind would be awake, simply because you just have to tell someone about it? It's a wonderful feeling. And when I wake up this morning, exhausted beyond belief, I won't regret a thing. Because I'd rather get that experience of being totally captivated by a book into the late hours of the night than sleep. For now. I'll do plenty of that later on, when my eyes get too old and my mind too tired.
  But for now, I'm going to read. And I'll love every single page.

(If you're wondering what book caused this late night stint, it's none other than Crown of Midnight, by Sarah J Maas!)

August Wrap Up!

I'm pretty proud of the books I read this month, I read a total of 8! And the genres were pretty varied too, from fantasy, to chick-lit, to historical fiction, I think I covered the bases! Without further ado, here they are! (With the ratings I gave them!)

Scarlet by Marissa Meyer- 4.5 Noodles
Eldest by Christopher Paolini-5 Noodles
If I Stay by Gayle Forman-4.5 Noodles
Where She Went by Gayle Forman-5 Noodles
The Help by Kathryn Stockett-5 Noodles
Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins-5 Noodles
Just One Day by Gayle Forman-3.5 Noodles
Just One Night by Gayle Forman-3 Noodles
Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas-5 Noodles
Started: Brisingr by Christopher Paolini

All that for a total of... 3,281 pages! Whoopie!! Pretty proud of that one.