I Can't Keep My Own Secrets: Six Word Memoirs by Teens Famous & Obscure

I Can't Keep My Own Secrets: Six Word Memoirs by Teens Famous & Obsure

Edited by Smith Magazine

HarperTeen

Released September 1, 2009

Source: ARC received from publisher

Summary (from Amazon): One life. Six words. What's yours?

True tales of love, loss, good friends, and bad hair days filled Not Quite What I Was Planning, the New York Times bestselling first book in the Six-Word Memoir series—and an international phenomenon. Some of the most compelling were by teens, so now SMITH Magazine has compiled a book written entirely by these bold, brash truth-tellers. From cancer to creativity, prom dates to promiscuity, and breaking hearts to breaking laws, the memoirs in this collection reveal that often the youngest writers have the most fascinating stories to tell.

Met online; love before first sight.

Hair's pink to piss you off.

I fulfilled my awkwardness quota today.

I'm seventeen, engaged, and not pregnant.

My mom had my boyfriend deported.

Late for school every single day.

According to Facebook, we broke up.

Review: I received I Can't Keep My Own Secrets for review ages ago, and I now see that I was certainly missing out by not reading it sooner. Creatively telling the life stories of teenagers by the teenagers themselves in only 6 words, this collection of memoirs captured my attention.

Even though the teens were only allotted six words, each painted an accurate picture of what the lives of today's teenagers truly entail. Some of their stories were witty. Others told emotional tales of tragedies. Many of the memoirs were uplifting and gave a peek of hope, while others forced me to laugh out loud.

This collection is absolutely impressive and excites me about the futures of our young people. These short, intimate glimpses into the lives of teenagers are sure to be enjoyed by people of all ages.

I Can't Keep My Own Secrets will remain on my shelves as a favorite, and it is definitely a book I will be rereading many more times to come!

Rating: 9-You've gotta read this one!

Just for fun, a few six word memoirs from me:

Blessed newlywed loving my AMAZING husband

I eat sweets before bed nightly

Teenager at heart, license reads twenty-seven

The Education of Bet-One Question Tour with Lauren Baratz-Logsted

Today I am pleased to welcome Lauren Baratz-Logsted back to Shalonda's Blog for an interview question on her One Question Tour. Lauren is the author of the upcoming The Education of Bet, which will be released on July 12th.

Summary of The Education of Bet (from Amazon): When Will and Bet were four, tragic circumstances brought them to the same house, to be raised by a wealthy gentleman as brother and sister. Now sixteen, they’ve both enjoyed a privileged upbringing thus far. But not all is well in their household. Because she’s a girl, Bet’s world is contained within the walls of their grand home, her education limited to the rudiments of reading, writing, arithmetic, and sewing. Will’s world is much larger. He is allowed—forced, in his case—to go to school. Neither is happy.

So Bet comes up with a plan and persuades Will to give it a try: They’ll switch places. She’ll go to school as Will. Will can live as he chooses. But once Bet gets to school, she soon realizes living as a boy is going to be much more difficult than she imagined.

And now for today's question...

If you could travel back in time and visit the Victorian Era, what is the first thing you would do?

LBL: Make sure there's indoor plumbing! Yes, I like to go camping, but if we're talking long-term usage...I want modern conveniences!

Thank you so much, Lauren, for allowing me to be a stop on your tour! I totally agree; there's no better invention than indoor plumbing!

Be sure to visit Lauren's stop at Eleni's blog, La Femme Readers in case you missed it yesterday. Tomorrow you can find her at Julie's blog, Bloggers Heart Books.

I Am Officially a Mrs.

Yep, that's right! I married the love of my life on Saturday and had the best time ever! My day was even better than I had expected. Everything turned out lovely and I was surrounded by so many family members and friends.

I promised pictures, and thanks to Vania, the photos she snapped are available for viewing at Vania's Life Captures. I expect to post pictures taken by my photographer, as well as my sister, as soon as they become available.

Until then check out Vania's photography (she's just so fabulous, and she, Kelsey, and Tori looked AMAZING on Saturday!!!).

48 Hour Book Challenge Finish Line

So at 9:35 PM, the 48 Hour Book Challenge ended for me. I originally set a goal of 20 hours and provided a list of the books I planned to read.

I fell 14 hours short and did not finish any of the books I planned to read. I did however finish one book and read from two others.

I started the challenge with Zetta Elliott's A Wish After Midnight. I read 56 pages before I decided to put it away. I felt myself rushing so that I could reach my goal, and A Wish After Midnight is not a book you want to rush through. I enjoyed what I read so much that I wanted to save it for after the challenge so I could take my time while reading it.

Today I moved onto I Can't Keep My Own Secrets: Six-Word Memoirs By Teens Famous and Obscure. I LOVED this one and it was the perfect book to push me through the challenge.

I then began Maus by Art Spiegelman. This is the first graphic novel I've ever read (I checked one out of the library before, but never got around to reading it). I only read 73 pages before my time ran out, but I will be finishing this one tonight.

I'm disappointed with my numbers for the challenge (though I always hate numbers), but the challenge has excited me, and I will make more time for reading because I feel like I have been missing out on some good material during my hiatus. That said, expect to be hearing more from me very soon!

Time Spent Reading: 5 Hours

Time Spent Blogging/Reviewing: 1 Hour

Total Time: 6 Hours

Total Number of Pages Read: 311

Thanks to MotherReader for hosting the challenge. I had a great time and am looking forward to the next 48 Hour Book Challenge!

48 Hour Book Challenge: Update 2

So you may have noticed I haven't posted an update since my 12 hour mark. The reason being, I have done a pathetic job at reaching my goal of 20 hours.

I joined in on the challenge because I wanted a wedding planning free weekend and wanted to get back to reading and blogging. That idea went out the window yesterday when I realized I had wedding related errands to run. Immediately after, I received a sweet phone call from my future mother-in-law that inspired me to work on a few minor wedding details. What was originally supposed to be three hours of work turned into a whole day of planning. I worked on wedding stuff until 2 AM, when I decided I should finally go to bed.

I am hoping to hit the books hard for the remaining 10 hours of the challenge (Yes, I will finish this challenge), and I am crossing my fingers I won't get interrupted or become too distracted.

Books Read: 0

Pages Read: Still far too low to report

Hours Read: 2 (Yep, that means I only read for 20 minutes yesterday. ARGH!!!)

24 Hour Book Challenge: Update 1

Okay, so I'm at hour 12--Did I just say hour 12? Yes. If you refer to the start time on my previous post, you'll sadly recognize that I started later than I anticipated.

I officially started at 9:35 PM last night, and now 12 hours later, I am embarrassed to report that I only read for 1 hour and 40 minutes. :-(

Because I did not decide to participate until yesterday evening, I missed out on the opportunity to take a nap. That said, I am not much of a night owl and was too tired to carry on.

But that's okay, I'll make up for it today!

Books Read: 0

Pages Read: Far too low to report yet (I am a SLOW reader)

Time Read: 1 Hour 40 Minutes

48 Hour Book Challenge: Can You Believe I'm Doing This???

It's been three months since I last posted, and it feels like forever! It is such a crazy idea that I am going to spend this weekend participating in the 48 Hour Book Challenge, considering I have so much to do!!! But I've missed the book blogging community so much and figured this was the best way to get back on track and communicate with you all about something other than my wedding plans (Trust me, once it's over, I will let you all know in a special post). That said, I am going to spend 48 hours, beginning at 8:30 pm tonight, reading and reviewing!!!

I am way behind on reviewing, so below is a list of books that I plan to read, and hopefully I will make it through them all without getting too distracted!

The Sky Is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson

A Wish After Midnight by Zetta Elliot

Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins

Freaksville by Kitty Keswick

The Clearing by Heather Davis

And if I read and review each of those before my 48 period is up, I hope to read these for fun (but will also post reviews):

The Karma Club by Jessica Brody

The Not-So-Star-Spangled Life of Sunita Sen by Mitali Perkins (originally The Sunita Experiment)

Crank by Ellen Hopkins

My plan is to read for at least 20 hours of the 48 hour period. Wish me luck!