Hello! Okay, I know we are well into January, and it's kinda too late for New Year's Resolutions, but YOU KNOW WHAT. IT'S NEVER TOO LATE TO MAKE GOALS FOR YOURSELF. I think I've determined to do this thing a while ago when I found this photo, but I've actually begun to put the thing into action. It's this thing!
Yeah! Check out that thing! I'm not gonna aim to check out the entire list, but I do hope that I will cross out a good heap of them. One thing I've learned is that I am actually a pretty fast reader. I managed to finish the 300ish page novel that is The Hobbit within about a week. NEAT.
As of today, I have read 2 books. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien & Grace's Guide: The Art Of Pretending To Be A Grown Up by Grace Helbig. I wanna do a quick informal review of Grace's Guide, since that book is newer to me than the latter.
GRACE'S GUIDE: THE ART OF PRETENDING TO BE A GROWN UP!
First of all, I'd like to say that Grace Helbig is one of my favorite Youtubers to date. (The other two being danisnotonfire and AmazingPhil). I watch all of her videos as she uploads them, because I'm kinda a dedicated fan.
My dear friend, Amy, asked me about a month ago on what I wanted for my birthday. I gave her a list of three items:
(I'm trying to make my blog more visual so I'm hoping that you are appreciating the extra effort in adding these things).
Yep! Those were the things I asked for. By the time she said she'd ordered my gift, the timer for the rad Misha shirt had run out. TBH although it was listed first on the list, it was the last thing of the things I've asked for that I really wanted. That Dan & Phil calendar was actually on top. FUNNY HOW THAT WORKED OUT.
*ahem*
So, the time of my birthday came around, and I finally got my gift! (She had me wait all day to give it to me. She wanted to wait til we got to Java Joe's and we were w/ Bailey for me to open it. The anticipation that day was killing me). And, as you've probably already gathered, that gift was Grace's Guide! It was hella ecstatic.
Within a couple of days (not immediately after receiving it. I still had the Hobbit to finish) I've finished reading the entire book!
Now my overall thoughts of the book in bullets.
- Funny. Just like Grace Helbig. You can hear her voice inside of my head as I read. It was great.
- Pretty insightful. I will say that I definitely did learn a thing or two after reading this book. For example: Deodorant is a top priority.
- GRACE HELBIG IS VERY PRETTY. There were hella pics all throughout the book, and they were all amazing.
- This is not a timeless book. In fact, it's quite the opposite. It's ephemeral. (I may or may not have searched antonyms for 'timeless' to come up with that word). Anyway, the most I have to say about this book relates to this.
It isn't the type of book, like the Hobbit, that you'd be able to pick up 100 years from now, and have still be just as effective and awesome as it is today. She makes a billion references to things that are popular today. I can imagine it becoming outdated in just a year or two, to be honest. However, I suppose I should take note that this book was written with millennials as the targeted audience. (You are a millennial if you were born between the years 1980 - 2000. Hey, check that out! I'm a millennial!) So once the millennials die out, so will the book.
Seriously, though. To pick up this book in 2115 and try to read it will be like us today trying to read The Scarlet Letter. I haven't read that book, as I'm in a class that doesn't really focus on reading books, but my friends have complained how difficult it was to understand due to the Old English speech.
And if you think that that's not true. Read this stuff:
- imo i think ur hair is on fleek.
- omg im hella salty
- tbh idk. ur v cool tho
See, I'm sure you were able to understand that just fine. It's common place for us. We internet explorers are familiar with this language that didn't exist 50 years ago. (and in case you couldn't translate any of that into plain english, lemme throw you a bone. 'In my opinion, I think your hair looks great!' 'Oh my God, I'm really annoyed' 'To be honest, I don't know. You're very cool though.')
Yep, so those are my thoughts. To give you a taste of what would be found in this book, here's an excerpt! It's from the section called "How to: Get Over a Hangover"
If you currently have a hangover, stop reading this right now. Trying to read when you're hungover is only slightly worse than trying to read when you're sober. #lol #books #irony #stayinschool #unlessschoolisntforyou
Instead, trying having a friend read this chapter to you. We'll call your friend "DR." No, not a doctor, a "Designated Reader." But if that person happens to be a doctor, kudos to you for having an intelligent friend who gets paid to touch body parts. Also, maybe ask them how to cure a hangover.
The first step to hangover recovery is accepting that you've brought this upon yourself. If you didn't you should probably go to the police. Or stop hanging out with Chrissy. I mean, her parents named her Chrissy. Not Christina. Not Christine. Chrissy. A government employee had to print "Chrissy" on a birth certificate. Also, she lets her thong strings show out of the top of her jeggings and she's got a tattoo of a ying-yang on fire. Sorry, but she's bad news.
Yep. So my consensus? READ THIS BOOK*. It's a fun read! I enjoyed myself. You could too!
Anyway, thank you for reading! Have a fab year. Maybe try to take part of that reading challenge! <3
-Jess
* While it is still relevant.
