Mean Girls 10th Anniversary Reading List

Today marks the 10th anniversary of the awesome, grool movie, Mean Girls. It's quite nice that it lands on a Wednesday, so we all get to wear pink for it today! To celebrate this wonderful day, I thought I'd create a reading list that goes along with the theme of the movie, because who doesn't like a mean girl?

Cracked Up To Be by Courtney Summers: “I didn't want to be popular because it was easier; I wanted to be popular because in high school that's the best thing you can be: perfect. Everything else is shit.” 

Beauty Queens by Libba Bray: “You set fire to my house, killed my family, and ate my dog. But steal my boyfriend? That's a step too far.” 

Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver: “It's funny how you can know your friends so well, but you still end up playing the same games with them.” 

Burn for Burn by Jenny Han and Siobhan Vivian: "This is Karma. I’m a bitch. Can you think of anyone who deserves a bitch slap?"

Speechless by Hannah Harrington: “I'm an expert at finding out secrets, but keeping them- especially a secret of this magnitude - is something else.”

Some Girls Are by Courtney Summers: “Tell Liz,' I say, 'the mean girl totally got what she deserved in the end.” 

 Have fun reading about some mean girls who either get what they deserve or learn how redeem themselves. What other books do you think should be added to this list?

Best Stand Alones of 2012

This year is quickly coming to an end. This means some great things: the holidays are upon us and life is filled with joy and family an we get to snuggle up together by the fire to keep warm. I'm sure we all can't wait to countdown to midnight on December 31st and ring in 2013.

This also means that our Pledges of almost over. Hopefully most of us have reached or will reach our goals before the year is through so that we can start all over again on January 1st!

Closer to the end of the year, I'm going to do the hardest thing ever: pick my top ten books of 2012. But for now, I'm going to list my favourite stand alones that I read this year. Stand alones seem like fish out of water these days. Most every book I pick up is the beginning of a series. Don't get me wrong, I love series. They give you a chance to really connect with the characters, but stand alones are a nice change. You don't have to wonder what will happen next, you get to make that up all on your own in your head. So here's my list for 2012:




This is Not a Test by Courtney Summers

By far my favourite zombie book. Sloane is suicidal while zombies roam free and she must decide if she's ready to end her life or ready to fight for hers and others around her. Summers has rapidly become one of my favourite authors and I can't wait to see what else she has in store.

Speechless by Hannah Harrington

In a world where rumours rule, it's nice to see a book that captures it perfectly. After letting out a brutal secret, Chelsea decides to take a vow of silence so she won't hurt anyone again. She learns a lot more than planned. I plan on reading Saving June soon because Harrington really impressed me with this novel.





The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Do I really have to say anything about this book? It hit every mark. It made me laugh, cry and want to throw it across the room. Green is an incredible author and his characters are so real it hurts way too much when bad things happen to them. This book will live on forever, just like Hazel and Augustus.





The Catastrophic History of You and Me by Jess Rothenberg

This book had one of the most interesting takes on death that I've seen. Each chapter was titled after a song and we watched as Brie tries to move on from her tragic death. Captured perfectly, it is definitely a book worth reading.

Beauty Queens by Libba Bray

This was the most hilarious book I read all year. Beauty queens stranded on a desert island - too funny. Each character had such a unique voice that I couldn't help falling in love with all of them. Especially Taylor though, because she was just too ridiculous words and everything she went through really showed her strength.




I know there are a lot of other stand alones that came out, but it seems I didn't read too many. any suggestions?

4. Beauty Queens

Book #4: Beauty Queens

Author: Libba Bray

Published: May 4, 2011

Pages: 396

5 Gold Stars

(summary from Goodreads)

The fifty contestants in the Miss Teen Dream pageant thought this was going to be a fun trip to the beach, where they could parade in their state-appropriate costumes and compete in front of the cameras. But sadly, their airplane had another idea, crashing on a desert island and leaving the survivors stranded with little food, little water, and practically no eyeliner.

What's a beauty queen to do? Continue to practice for the talent portion of the program - or wrestle snakes to the ground? Get a perfect tan - or learn to run wild? And what should happen when the sexy pirates show up?

Welcome to the heart of non-exfoliated darkness. Your tour guide? None other than Libba Bray, the hilarious, sensational, Printz Award-winning author of A Great and Terrible Beauty and Going Bovine. The result is a novel that will make you laugh, make you think, and make you never see beauty the same way again.

A Note From Our Sponsor

Well it’s been a wild ride hasn’t it? I don’t want to alarm you, and I can’t guarantee that everyone is safe and sound now, but I’d like to take a minute to let you know that The Corporation had no part in this matter as much as “they” would let you otherwise believe. It is not our fault that a plane holding all 50 contestants of The Miss Teen Dream Beauty Pageant crashed onto a deserted island. It is not our fault that we could not get there to rescue them. It is not our fault that being on this island may have liberated these girls. This island may or may not have taught them to be self sufficient, mean you this was with much help from Corporation products such as Lady ‘Stache Off and no doubt with a little help of The Miss Teen Dream Pageant morals as well.

There’s no way past it. These girls are brave. They learn to fish, built huts, find fresh drinking water, all the while wearing torn pageant dresses and sashes. These are Miss Teem Dreamers and The Corporation recognizes that. That may or may not be why we thought them a threat. Oh, I’m getting off track here. Where was i?

The Corporation did not plan for the girls to stay very long. We had it all set up, but damn are these girls smarter than they look. They are outspoken, quick thinkers and they sure know how to use those pageant moves as weapons. Especially that Miss Texas, now she’s a pure bred. There’s no stopping her once she’s put her mind to something. And Miss Nebraska sure won’t take anybody’s crap. Most of these girls seem like your typical, clean cut beauty queens. Well think again viewers. There is more to these girls that meets the eye. Once again, The Corporation feels like we could have done more to help these girls, maybe get them off that island before they started to become, well, independent and thinkers. You can’t let a woman think too much, or else this happens.

Let’s just all pretend none of this happened. Let’s go back to thinking great things about The Miss Teen Dream Pageant and all the wonderful Corporation aspects it stands for. We do not condone this behavior, but let me just leave you with this final message from The Corporation:

Never leave fresh, smart girls alone together on an island. Because they will get angry when they find out what you plan on doing and they will in fact seek revenge. And these girls are pretty resourceful, so they will win.

“Maybe girls need an island to find themselves. Maybe they need a place where no one’s watching them so they can be who they really are.”