Hidy-ho bookworms! I hope you enjoyed this month’s pick, a teen love story featuring cancer, Amsterdam and a highly-antisocial author. John Green is truly a master of YA fiction and he didn’t disappoint. Just a note: if you didn’t have time to join in with this month’s read, this post will CONTAIN SPOILERS.

The Fault in Our Stars introduces us to our protagonist, Hazel, who has terminal cancer and a generally pessimistic view on life (who can blame her?). She attends a support group for other kids with cancer, mainly to please her over-protective mother. One day, at the support group,  she meets a new boy, Augustus Waters. They are kindred spirits, who can connect on so many levels, besides their common battle with cancer. Through a series of interesting events, they end up together in Amsterdam, where they meet the author of Hazel’s favorite book. Once they return home, it becomes clear that Augustus is once again battling the cancer that he thought was gone. Even though their time together is finite, the two continue to grow and bond, forever changing one another and causing me to sob buckets along the way. Read More »

In the late 1800s, children’s literature split into two overall genres: boys’ books and girls’ books. Although girls’ literature continues to be published today, the recognition of female protagonists is often overlooked. In a world full of Mowglis (from The Jungle Book) and Harry Potters, it’s hard for girl characters to get the recognition they deserve. However, though these novels may not receive attention from critics the way boys’ books often do (they are more likely to be critically acclaimed), girls’ literature has been incredibly influential in shaping girl culture overall.

These novels are considered to be classic pieces of girls’ fiction and the issues they touch on helped put the culture of girls and women on the map as an important issue in literature. These novels changed the genre with their forefront issues of gender, socio-economic class systems, body-image and eating disorder acknowledgment, racial discrimination and minority representation, sexual abuse recovery, and the abandonment of young girls by their families and in their educations … simply because they weren’t boys.

Even if sentimental novels or ghost stories aren’t your thing, there will be some story that you will identify with. Perhaps though, identification of yourself in a character is the most important part of girls’ literature and its role in our lives today. Women, no matter what age, can see themselves in these protagonists – and that is why these novels are still around, despite not being critically acclaimed for hundreds of years. And that’s even more reason why every girl (or woman!) should add these to her must-read list: Read More »

As a voracious reader and book blogger, I’m always looking for my next page turner. Sure, I can look to the “new releases” section of my local bookstore for a good book, but who’s to say those books are the best? And sometimes those authors and publishers just can’t keep up with my book consumption. So a few years ago I turned to the World Wide Web to see what I might be able to find. And what I found was a bookworm’s gold mine.

There are tons of awesome websites out there full of book reviews, recommendations and other literary excitement. And the stuff they’ve got is way more relevant and informative than the reviews on Amazon.com or by the guy working behind the counter at Barnes and Noble. But much like everything else on the Internet, there are so. many. book blogs. Which ones are the best? Which ones can you trust? Which ones will recommend stuff you’ll actually like?

These three blogs are my staples; I check them often and trust their advice. They’re fun, informative, different and remind me that reading is enjoyable (when I’m not reading a textbook that is….). If you’re looking for some new books or just want a little more insight into the literary world, bookmark these suckers: Read More »

Although we gals have pushed, yelled and fought for our rights for decades, it’s an unfortunate fact that men dominate a number of professions in the U.S. (and often make more money than women doing the same things). Can we imagine a world where estrogen ruled, women weren’t subjected to workplace prejudices, and men were delegated to diaper duty (okay, we don’t have to go this far, but still…)??

Let’s take a look at some professions dominated by men and see how women could handle them…

Job: Floor Trader
Description: Member of a stock or commodities exchange who trades for their company amongst a sea of hysterical competitors.
Why women should dominate this profession: Many women I know admit to making a habit of picking fights with their boyfriends. There’s something about our argument style (sometimes fierce, sometimes whiny, sometimes teary, always clever, and oftentimes a mix of the four) that, when combined with batted eyelashes, ensures that we’re going to walk out of the room knowing that the score is Girl: 1, Boy: 0. Read More »

Recently, I read an article that centered on a Harvard professor’s anger after a recent grad whom he taught (Jared Kushner, the son of realllly powerful real estate developer) went out and bought the New York Observer — and then slashed the paychecks of the Observer’s freelancers, one of whom was the Harvard professor himself. The professor was pissed that Kushner, who most likely gave him attitude in the classroom, had the money and the audacity to do something that monumental, while the professor was making around $15,500 a year.

“When intellectuals act as clerks and students act as clients, how do college teachers differ from corporate accountants?” the professor angrily writes. “…the sedulous banality of the rich degrades teaching into a service-class preoccupation whose chief duty is preparing clients for monied careers.”

Big words (I mean, he teaches at Harvard. I think it’s a prerequisite), but what the guy is basically saying that rich students make him feel like he’s not doing anything except helping them learn how to grow up and screw the little guys. Rich kids make this guy feel like he’s nothing more than a stepping stone toward big conglomerate world domination.

He’s sort of got a point, but it’s a moot one, because…I mean…duh.

A lot of insanely rich kids grow up believing most of the human race is there to serve them. I attended undergrad at a private liberal arts college where Gucci purses and Prada shoes were perfectly in place at 8:30 in the morning, and you better believe there were some kids with major attitude in class. A degree was something they simply had to tolerate before Daddy or Mommy or Uncle Dearest would set them up in some prime position at whatever giant company their family owned. Read More »