#operationreadmore | May

Today I'm taking a break from sharing Week in the Life pages and sharing the books I read in May instead.

Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter
I wasn't entirely sure what to think of this book at first. I loved that it went back and forth between the past and the present. It told a more complete story by giving you the details of the background to explain the details of the present.

The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson
I loved I'll Give You the Sun by the same author, and I loved this book. It was emotional, but I really loved living a fictional life where my sister dies and I can't figure out which boy I want to be with.

The Maze Runner, The Scorch Trials, The Death Cure and The Kill Order by James Dashner
Every once in a while I love reading some really messed up fiction. I'm not entirely sure if this falls under fantasy or not (I don't think so) but I enjoyed it. Some parts were a little more cringe worthy than I'd like, but I still enjoyed the books.

Me Before You by Jojo Moyes
LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVED THIS BOOK. I gave myself some serious eye strain and finished this book in two days. I read from the time I got up, to the time I went to work, then read through most of my work shift and  loved every second of this book. I made a point not to watch any movie previews before I finished the book, and it was so worth the wait. This book pulled all my heart strings and as I got closer to the end I started reading faster and when I finished, I wanted to read it again in case I missed anything. This book is one I will absolutely read again. It was a beautiful story and Jojo writes so beautifully!

Thanks for coming to see my May books. On Friday I'll have another Week in the Life post to share with you! Have a great day.

#operationreadmore | February

Today I'm sharing the short list of books I read in February. I read so many in January that I'm not surprised February was a little light on books. I'm still ahead of my challenge, so yay me!

This month I read
Burial Rites by Hanna Kent
I love historical fiction, especially well researched historical fiction. This book was perfectly that.

Better than Before by Gretchen Rubin
I love Gretchen's books. I love her podcast Happier with Gretchin Rubin. This books led me to assess my family and try to figure out which tendency they have based on how they act. I'm not certain in my assumptions, but I'm excited for her book about the 4 tendencies so I can figure out which one I really am, and work on changing some habits.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone & Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling
When Alan Rickman died earlier this year, I had a sudden urge to re-read the Harry Potter series. Which was a great idea because I haven't read any of them since the last book came out (ages ago). I didn't realize how many details I forgot, or things that the movies ruined in my brain (Jon and I watched all the movies a couple years ago).

Thanks for coming by to see the books I read last month. March will probably be filled with the rest of the Harry Potter books, and nothing else, and I'm completely okay with that. Have a great day!

Read More Books 2014

Happy Friday friends! Today I'm sharing a layout I made while I was working through Ali Edwards' Type Class. It really helped me embrace using typed words in my journaling on my layouts, and it taught me different ways to use text (alpha stickers, hand journaling, typed journaling) on my layouts. I love this page so much, and it was the most fun way to document the 50 books I read last year.

Here's the layout. I added the red heart paper behind the photo, title and journaling. It was completely by accident that most of the books I chose for the photo were red, white and blue. I thought it was funny when I printed the photo, and so I added red and blue to the layout. This page is 8.5 x 11 and it was a huge change for me. I usually do 12x12, and while that has it's own challenges, so does making smaller layouts. I love how this turned out, and I'm working on one to document the books I read this year as well.

Here's another close up. I used two fonts for the text (can't remember either of them of course) and made the numbers bold to break up the text a little bit. If you want to see all 50 books I read last year, you can check out my profile on Goodreads (here) and follow me! (It's only showing 49 books, but I did read 50, so I'll have to fix that). If you have any book recommendations, I'd love to check them out. Just leave them in the comments! I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

-Alexandria