About the Author

An Introduction (and utter rubbish/randomness):

Why, hello there! So glad that you decided to drop by! My name is Taylor, and I have a deeply rooted fascination with language, which is what led me here, as I am sure it did for you as well. :) I love to read and write and learn—that’s what I am here for, after all. This felt like a good place to stretch my “fingers,” as it were, and hone some writing skills. I would love to hear any advice you have, or give you guys some in return, if that’s what you’d prefer? Anyway, I am just a dreamer with a reverence for the written word. (Insert dreamy sigh here. Lol)

“These Are a Few of My Favorite Things”

Anime/Manga Recs

(Please feel free to give me some of your own favorites to check out! I would seriously love that!!)

· Attack on Titan/Shingeki no Kyojin

· Naruto

· Bleach

· Fullmetal Alchemist

· Inuyasha

· Claymore

· Prince of Tennis

· Death Note

· Vampire Knight

· Samurai Champloo

· Psycho-Pass

· Bloodplus

· Dragon Ball Z/Dragon Ball

· Seven Deadly Sins

· Ghost in the Shell

· Ajin

· Parasyte—the maxim

· Future Diary

Cartoon Recs

(Please feel free to give me some of your own favorites to check out! I would seriously love that!!)

· Anything from the 1990’s on nickelodeon! :)

· Avatar: The Last Airbender

· The Legend of Korra

Book Recs

(Please feel free to give me some of your own favorites to check out! I would seriously love that!!)

Grammar Selections:

(For the grammar Nazis everywhere! :))

· The Elements of Style — seriously, the BIBLE of all writing. There is not one respectable published writer alive who has not heard of this book. In fact, many of them own it! I swear it’s literary GOLD.

· Eats, Shoots, and Leaves — about the importance of punctuation :) BONUS: She is absolutely hilarious!

Your Meat and Potatoes

(Aka: General Fictional Recs :D Classics and Contemporaries and every genre you can imagine! Honestly, I have so many more I want to put on here, but I am going to try to be conservative and economic about how much I bombard ya’ll with! :P)

· The Book Thief — Mark Zusak (beautiful, beautiful, beautiful—be prepared to CRY!!! :’()

· Memoirs of a Geisha—Arthur Golden (Gorgeous prose, and a tearful journey through a young girls life and love. The film is lovely too!)

· A Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones—George R. R. Martin (I know, I know. You’ve probably been told to read this a thousand times, or to watch the hit HBO original series, but you really, really should! It is amazing! His characters are all so unique (just to be clear there are lots!!!), and the intricate plot and subplots—Gah! The man is a genius! His world building is freaking crazy too. Anyway, rant over. Go read it!)

· The Beautiful and the Damned — F. Scott Fitzgerald (anything by Fitzgerald! He’s amazing!! I really love the characters that he weaves, you can really feel them come to life and lead you through their personal journey. If you’re looking for something nearly autobiographical, and still wonderful, read his novel: “Tender is the Night”…it’s based loosely off his own life.)

· The Picture of Dorian Gray — Oscar Wilde (The way Wilde writes makes me wonder why I even bother…*sigh* lol)

· Pride and Prejudice—Jane Austen (She is my idol. And, she will kick your ass into literary, mechanical, and grammatical shape! This woman is a BEAST with the ever elusive semicolon)

· The Best American Series — ANYTHING from this series actually; just get the entire series since the beginning of time because they have SUCH a good variety of writing—poetry, prose, expository, etc etc etc…

· BRONTE SISTER'S NOVELS— (Seriously, just go read all of them. These three lovely ladies write unearthly beautiful literature. I.e. “Wuthering Heights” & “Jane Eyre” & “Agnes Grey”)

· House of Leaves — Mark Z. Danielewski (I don’t hold ANY responsibility for the numerous nightmares you will have after reading this book but it’s literally so beautiful and intricate, it’s worth the trek to HELL and back. You’ve been warned! Muahahahaha!!! :P)

· Paper Towns — John Green (ANYTHING by john green, and I mean anything. He has a particular way of capturing thoughts and feelings that is just gut-wrenchingly, heart-throbbingly (yes, I know I just made up a word there—who cares?) realistic.)

· The Bell Jar — Sylvia Plath (If you want melancholy, you GOT it. Also her poetry is sob-worthy!)

· The Nightingale—Kristin Hannah (Yup. I cried. A lot. It’s unexplainably lovely and melancholy and emotional…*sobbing* lol)

· Lolita — Vladimir Nabokov (Okay…the fact that English isn’t his native tongue gives me simultaneous hope and hopelessness. Lol. Seriously makes me question everything I’ve ever done in my entire life. It is poignant and beautiful and just…art. Freaking art.)

· Lord of the Rings—J.R.R. Tolkien (The king of fantasy in my book. He developed a world I love to live in every time I watch/read it!)

· The History of Love — Nicole Krauss (It’s honestly so good, even if it’s a little strange…lolz XD)

· ANYTHING by Alice Munroe — QUEEN of short stories. She won a damn Nobel Prize, okay? WORTH IT! :)

· Harry Potter Series—J.K. Rowling (Simply put, it’s amazing, and there is no reason that you should NOT read it. It is timeless and a story for all ages!)

· The Miniature Wife — Manuel Gonzales (Magical realism to a T…O.o)

· The Taming of the Shrew—William Shakespeare (I had to put ONE down, and this is my favorite. I love the characters in this particular work of his, but I have a deep affection for all of his fantastical literature!! :))

· Frankenstein—Mary Shelley (Fun fact: she published this when she was 20. Yeah…I feel like a failure now. Lolz. Seriously it is gorgeous and haunting! READ IT!)

· The Lover’s Dictionary — David Levithan (Not only cute, but heartbreaking and terrifyingly accurate to the rise and fall of every single relationship. Ever.)

· Why We Broke Up — Daniel Handler (Kinda similar to the Lovers Dictionary, but NOT REALLY AT ALL; it’s so well written and so truthful…sigh.)

· Every Day — David Levithan (What can I say? I love this man. lolz)

· Will Grayson. Will Grayson — John Green & David Levithan (SREAMS INTO SUNSET! These two together are literary GOLD!)

· Dreams and Shadows — C. Robert Cargill (“Why does everyone assume angels fell from heaven? Some of us jumped.” If you’re not sold, you need to reevaluate. :P)

· Queen of the Dark Things — C. Robert Cargill (sequel to above novel)

· The Chaos of Stars — Kiersten White (about a girl who is the daughter of two Egyptian gods and just decides to just haul ass to San Diego cause she’s done with life. Also, the style makes me sob. SO BEAUTIFUL!!!)

· The Second Sex—Simone de Beauvoir (This is more of an exposition piece, and a history on women by a woman. This is for all of the feminists out there! :))

· The Goldfinch — Donna Tartt (this one is a HUGE commitment, but the way she describes things, the way she phrases her words…*sighs*…worth it!)

· Wintergirls — Laurie Halse Anderson (WARNING: Eating disorders, but more than anything, it’s a story about recovery, and again, the writing itself it gorgeous and painfully accurate.)

For the Quick Fix of Inspiration/Language Lovers

(Poetry Recs!!!!)

· The Veiled Suite — Agha Shahid Ali (Some of the most beautiful poetry I’ve ever read in the history of ever.)

· Complete Collected Works of E.E Cummings — this guys has a WAYYYY with words.

· Complete Works of Edgar Allen Poe — quite possibly my all-time fav writer/poet. He spins words like some damn fine silk and it’s heartbreaking.

· Midnight Lantern — Tess Gallagher (WOW. That is all…)

· ANYTHING by T.S. Eliot—beautiful, beautiful, beautiful!!!!

· The Anatomy of Being — Shinji Moon (tumblr poet turned published poet. His words are piercing and painful. The day I can write like him is the day I give up and lay down and marinate in happiness. Lolz.)

· salt. — Nayyirah Waheed (Another tumblr poet turned published poet. “There is a story the size of a continent in my throat.” I rest my case…)

The Not So Typical Reads

(Essay Collection)

· Pulphead — John Jeremiah Sullivan (Some of them are long…but wow, once you get into it, you GET INTO IT! :P)

· Consider the Lobster — David Foster Wallace (Really thought provoking! AMAZING!!)

· The Common Reader — Virginia Wolfe (if you don’t know who she is, then don’t attempt; read some of her literature first because she’s got a DISTINCTIVE style that’s hard to get through but is ENDLESSLY satisfying once you get used to it!)

· Teaching a Stone to Talk — Annie Dillard (She wrote some AMAZING things deconstructing writing with moths. It’s legit.)

· Me Talk Pretty One Day — David Sedaris (HILARIOUS. XDDD)