"Pain is just weakness leaving the body, and then being replaced by pain. Lots of pain."

So, I've been distracted lately. Very distracted. During a time-sucking pinterest excursion where I brainlessly scrolled down looking at everything I could be doing but wasn't because I was on pinterest instead... I came across an interesting bit of art. I clicked on it, and discovered that it was fan art of a podcast called Welcome to Night Vale. Thus, my weekend addiction began. I've been listening to it marathon-style for the past three days, and I've caught up to the present. It's... amazing. I am in love. It's bizarre, Lovecraftian, twisted, adorable, and hilarious.

The show takes place in a small, desert community called Night Vale. Cecil Baldwin narrates his radio show and tells stories about the town and its happenings - the secret police that watch over the town, reminders not to go near the dog park and not to approach the Mysterious Hooded figures. There are updates on the station "cat,"Khoshekh, and, of course, the Perfect, Beautiful, Scientist Carlos.

I'm so in love with this show, I don't know how to express it. It's just... fantastic.

Monster - Walter Dean Myers

Steve Harmon likes to make films. In order to cope and keep record of his current ordeal, he writes a screenplay, and he's decided the title should be what the state prosecutor calls him: Monster.

Told through the screenplay style, as well as journal entries, the story follows Steve through his trial for murder. He's 16 years old, and accused of being an accomplice in a robbery that ended with a man shot. This is a powerful narrative that sticks with the reader. Long after I read the last line, I was repeating it in my head, pondering the same question Steve was.

Throughout the book, I noticed Steve is an unreliable narrator, which made it more interesting for me. I'm used to taking the narrator's perspective as fact, so not being able to trust Steve's narration kept me reading and questioning.