So last week, thanks to my wonderful brother, I was able to get my library card...you can't imagine how excited I've been for the past few days! Now that I'm taking a semester off of school, I can finally read things for pleasure and not because they're on the syllabus ha! And plus, I can check out movies and CD's, and reserve stuff so that I don't have to drive all around town. I swear, the library is just a gift from above for us knowledge-yearning humans!I must admit though, my town's libraries are quite small, and often don't have what you're looking for but sometimes it turns out for the better because you end up finding many other wonderful things you don't even expect. Sorry, I'm in full "dork mode" right now...talking about the library is exciting haha!

So for the past week I've been living in pleasure island, I've been able to check out many books and my top three are shown above, and I will elaborate more on them.

(from left to right)

1. Of Love and Evil by Anne Rice: This is the first book that I finished reading just a couple of days ago and absolutely loved. It deals with the live of Toby O'Dare, an assassin who is visited by an Angel named Malchiah, and is asked to do the work God while traveling to the past. This book is extraordinary in the sense that it deals with religion (and in such a beautiful way!) and also includes a little bit of sci-fi. You don't really have to be catholic to enjoy this book, just read it with an open mind. This is the second book of the series, which I had no idea existed so now I'm going to read the first book called "Angel Time."
2. The Great Perhaps by Joe Meno: I will begin to read this book tonight so in the meantime I will include a description from Amazon- "Meno (Hairstyles of the Damned) continues to employ his keen observations of human nature, this time exploring the tumultuous landscapes of a contemporary Chicago family. The narrative rotates between members of the Casper family, giving each time and space to dig into their respective quirks. Jonathan, the father, is a scientist caught in a quest for a prehistoric squid and is prone to seizures at the sight of clouds. Madeline, Jonathan's wife, also a scientist, studies the behavior of her murderous lab pigeons and is distressed by the growing distance between family members: elder daughter Amelia is a teenage anticapitalist crusader already becoming weary of the fight; youngest daughter Thisbe's desire to find God is met with much concern from her atheist parents; grandfather Henry's sole desire is to make himself disappear. As the family's preoccupations rattle on and bang up against one another, the recently begun war in Iraq provides background noise and another dimension to the intricate and intimate tale. Meno's handle on the written word is fresh and inviting, conjuring a story that delves deeply into the human heart." (May)
   Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
3. Bursts: The Hidden Pattern Behind Everything We Do by Albert-László Barabási: Once again, I will start reading this one soon...but I'll leave you with the review (from amazon) that made me want to read it - "Albert-László Barabási, already the world's preeminent researcher on the science of networks, describes his work on this profound mystery in Bursts, a stunningly original investigation into human behavior. His approach relies on the way our lives have become digital. Mobile phones, the Internet, and e-mail have made human activities more accessible to quantitative analysis, turning our society into a huge research laboratory. All those electronic trails of time- stamped texts, voice mails, and searches add up to a previously unavailable massive data set that tracks our movements, our decisions, our lives. Analysis of these trails is offering deep insights into the rhythm of how we do everything. His finding? We work and fight and play in short flourishes of activity followed by next to nothing. Our daily pattern isn't random, it's "bursty." Bursts uncovers an astonishing deep order in our actions that makes us far more predictable than we like to think."

I'll let you all know what I thought of these books as soon as I finish them!

You know what they say, there's a heaven on Earth! Who could resist to all the good things life has to offer: the sea, a good book, great conversations, chocolate, flowers, soothing music...anything that makes you sigh, relax, and/or feel like the world is yours.
There are a lot of things that make up my own little heaven (including those above, of course). For me, my heaven consists of my family, comfortable clothes, taking a nap in the middle of the day, home-made food, handwritten letters that arrive in the mail, and many many other things!
Also, in my list of heavenly things:

• Gelato
• French toasts (and pancakes)
• Tea...oh goodness...do I love a good cup of tea, which in my opinion kicks coffee in the butt!
• Museums- there's nothing more relaxing than an afternoon of looking into other people's minds.
  

What makes up your heaven on Earth?

Sadly, I don’t think anyone has had or felt anything like that about me? Not yet anyway"

-Megan [from carouselinparis.tumblr.com]



I find this extraordinarily relateable, the part about hearing a song and thinking of someone...which is something almost unbearable.

"All of this can be broken...all of this can be broken. Hold your devil by his spoke and spin him to the ground."

Beautiful song by Laura Marling. Hypnotizing.

The reward to giving someone a chance: a new addition to my list of "favorite songs." To tell you the truth, I had been quite hesitant to give Mumford & Sons a listen...I had heard one of their songs a few months back, which really didn't do anything for me, but I then found this little treasure and I am now a believer!!! Incredible, the things you will love after just opening your mind to new things and letting it all in like a wave of cool and cleansing. "The Cave" by Mumford and Sons is the highlight of my week...listen to it and it might just be yours as well.

P.S.

You know what you have to do if you want to listen to it...click on the picture above and it will take you right to their fantastic video!

...this



...and this.