Does The Weather Determine Your Book Choices? It Does For Me.

“A lot of people like snow. I find it to be an unnecessary freezing of water.” 
― Carl Reiner

It's snowing outside. That's nothing special, I do live in Minnesota. What is special is that there was no snow on the ground last night, and I woke up to several inches. This means two things, the first being that Josh told me that I am free to stay within the confines of my own home today. This leads to the second, which is that I'm also free to have access to my bookshelves all day. That means that the second my work is finished, it's time to make a pot of tea and enjoy some quality reading time. 

But what do I read? I'm currently reading several books, because I'm one of those people that loves to juggle texts. Do I pick up my current YA series, or continue my current historical fiction masterpiece? Well, let's look outside and let the weather decide for me. Is it snowing? Yes. Will any of my friends be attempting to interrupt my reading time? No. 

The answer is:

How to Maximize Your Reading Time

             

            All things take time, especially reading. Whether it's 15 minutes, or an entire weekend, when you want to read you'll probably have to not be doing other things. I can't say I've met anyone who can honestly watch TV, or do the dishes, or pack their luggage while reading and actually walk away with complete comprehension. It just can't be done. So, when you're in need of a good reading fix, and you know you'd rather be lost in a book right now, when do you do it? Possibly just as importantly, where?

To answer these questions, I've enlisted the expert opinion of our Scarletta Editor, Josh.

A House is Not a Home... Unless it's Ravenclaw House

The single most important part of the Harry Potter fan community is the age-old question "what house are you?", and if your answer is displeasing to the asker you will not be able to avoid a short lecture on why your house isn't the best. So, to keep that cycle going all of us at Scarletta took  a quiz that told us what we already knew. We're great. Also, we're all pretty different.


Can you guess who was sorted where? Let's find out:

People Need to Adapt to Film Adaptions

Imagine for a moment, this:

College-student working in the publishing industry starts to read through the daily blog chatter and finds it to be nothing but talk about the award season and the book to movie adaptations people are either hailing or railing against. The student finds himself bored to the point of small tears building up in his eyes as they fight the urge to sleep on the job.

afgs elouw,n

Because the macbook they're typing on doesn't allow you to hit a ton of buttons at once, the action of their head coming to rest on the keyboard creates a scant two words of gibberish as they slowly drift into the peaceful slumber that each blog post slowly, inexorably lead their mind and body toward.

Unfortunately, we publish a lot more fiction than non-fiction here at Scarletta and that's not how my short story got to end in real life. Instead I get to fight through the grogginess that all of this seasons film adaption talk fills me with, and spend a little bit of time on a soapbox. Here we go.

The Magic of Literary Role-Models

I think a role model is a mentor - someone you see on a daily basis, and you learn from them.

Denzel Washington 

The more famous Denzel hits the nail right on the head with that quote. Role models are a constant presence in your life during the time that they influence you, and it's impossible to overstate how important good role models can be. Yet, let's be honest, sometimes people forget about some of the most important role models in their lives. The role models that are actually there every day, whether you're at school, or at home, or spending the weekend at grandma's. The character you come to know, love, and admire in the books you carried in your backpack no matter where you go. Join me as I break down a few of the best role-models I can recall from my childhood, and hopefully help pull a few of your fondest memories of these childhood heroes back to surface.

With an Eye to the Future

It's 2014 now guys! In fact, it has been for just over a week now. This means that the excuses of the holiday season are behind us and it's time to get back to being semi-productive members of society. It also means that it's time to look ahead at the exciting releases scheduled to happen this year, and announce the titles we're most hyped up about.

So, without further ado, I give you the expert opinions of my favorite panel of book lovers: