Attagirl

Hello from an absolutely gorgeous day in September! The weather here is beautiful: the sun is shining, there are a few fluffy clouds in the sky, there’s a light breeze, and it’s a perfect 80 degrees. Ah- bliss… Today all of the windows have been thrown open, and my screen doors are free to the world. I am truly enjoying this wonderful day!

With many thanks to Anna Beth and Jill, who brought up 4? boxes of books when they visited that I couldn’t initially bring up myself, I had many more books to fill my bookshelves in my apartment. However, that was not the extent of my full book collection, and when my mom visited in August, she brought up the rest of my books. Now my bookshelves are overflowing!! :)

I’ve taken today to finish organizing my bookshelves, and I thought it’d be fun to share a few of my childhood favorites that I’m re-remembering with you all! I’ve also had a fantastic week with regard to discovering new, fantastically diverse music, so I want to share some of my favorites with you all here too! Without further ado…

• The Scarlet Slipper Mystery –Carolyn Keene
  I loved growing up with the Nancy Drew mystery series! I have so many different release versions of book in the series, and I love them all dearly. Many were passed down to me from family member to family member… I love the classics! This particular mystery was one of my favorites in the later series, purely because of the following passage:
  
  They had not gone far when Nancy asked for an explanation of what he had done.
  “I don’t trust that guy,” Ned replied.
  “But what was the idea of giving him an impression like that?”
  “Impression like what?” Ned asked in some surprise.
  “Anyone who heard you would think we’re husband and wife. Especially a man like Renee.”
  Ned laughed heartily. “Well, someday I hope it’ll be true. And for your information I hope he’ll think we’re married now. If he’s a spy or a kidnapper, as I suspect, he’d better not find out your name is Drew!”
  
  Nancy + Ned = Forever. They truly were my first OTP.
• Into the Wild – Erin Hunter
  This first book of the Warriors series was a reward from Barnes and Noble for completing the library’s summer reading plan! I remember having a shelf of books to choose from and choosing this one about cats, never realizing that it would be the start of an amazing series!! I wish I was in Thunderclan…
• Around the World in Eighty Days – Jules Verne
  I “inherited” the unabridged version from random relatives when I was 6 or 7 and loved reading it, even if I didn’t quite understand all of the words. The fantastically clever ending makes me smile every time I read it. :D

To the music!!!

"Signs of Love” – Moby
This is such a neat song! It’s actually electronica as I haven’t heard before. Give it a listen- it’s pretty different- a good different-from what I normally recommend. I also recommend “We Are All Made of Stars” from the same album. I really like them both.

“Love Resurrection” –Allison Moyet
Such an amazing old song! Love Love LOVE!

“Home Again” – Michael Kiwanuka
I've been listening to the entire Home Again album, and it's amazing stuff! He fits into the modern blues genre well, and so much of his stuff makes me feel like I'm listening to something really old... but it's still modern. Fantastic work. I recommend the entire album.

“I Should Go” – Levi Kreis
Isn't this just the sweetest song? :)

Aaaaaaaaaaand if this blog was too long...

TL;DR: I leave you with this- my favorite new song discovery from the week. It’s a rustic folk classical song by Yo-Yo Ma, Stuart Duncan, Edgar Meyer & Chris Thile on their album The Goat Rodeo Sessions. This is actually a video of them performing it in a studio- watch and be amazed!!! If you only listen to one of the above songs, LISTEN TO THIS ONE! (/watch too!)

Love you guys!
Amber

“Attaboy” –The Goat Rodeo Sessions