If you yourself are also in search of new reading material, see my earlier posts on books I like: Good Reads 1 and Good Reads 2.

Now, onto the books.

Thirteen Reasons Why: Jay Asher

This book isn’t the best written book I’ve ever read, but it’s heartbreakingly beautiful and will make you think long and hard about the way you treat people. A teen commits suicide but before she goes she leaves 13 tapes on the doorsteps of 13 people explaining how each one of them is one of the reasons why she chose to end her life.

Divergent: Veronica Roth

I absolutely loved this. It’s another Young Adult novel (which apparently I’m addicted to, who knew) also set in a futuristic world where everybody is divided into different sects according to their dominating characteristic: Abnegation, Amity, Dauntless and Erudite. Anybody who can’t be easily categorized and is considered to be a Divergent. The main character realizes she’s Divergent and the book is about what happens to her as she switches sects and then is forced to go to war against her former family’s and sect. Fascinating, I couldn’t put it down. I read it from start to finish in a couple of hours.

Naturally Thin: Eve Adamson and Bethenny Frankel

My love for Bethenny is already documented so I figured why not buy her book and support her business, since I like her so much. I’ve never read a diet book before and I probably won’t ever again. That means you should really take what I say with a grain of salt. I liked the book. It was a lot of common sense “rules” but for some reason hearing another person say them pounds them into your head a little more. Now I have a little Bethenny food-devil (ok, she’s probably the angel) sitting on my shoulder telling me to “balance my account” when I drink too much champagne

Wither: Lauren DeStefano

This book is very similar to The Handmaids Tale, in that it’s also set in a futuristic society where women are sold to be baby making machines to a husband (who can have multiple wives). I liked it more though. In The Handmaids Tale they purposely keep the characters left feeling vague enough that they could be anybody but Wither is descriptive enough to make you know and care about the characters. I thought it was a really fun book and I’m looking forward to the sequel coming out!

Little Bee: Chris Cleave

THIS IS THE BEST BOOK I HAVE EVER READ.

Too much caps lock? Sorry. I really don’t have the words to say how much I loved this book. It was the most beautifully written piece of literature I have ever, ever read. I went through the whole thing underlining passages just because the words sounded like music. Example:

“That the ocean covers seven tenths of the earth’s surface, and yet my husband could make me not notice it. that is how big he was for me.”

And

“Or look how the sari girl could fit the entire color of yellow into one empty see-through plastic bag.”

And

“Everything was happiness and singing when I was a little girl. There was plenty of time for it. We did not have hurry. We did not have electricity or fresh water or sadness either, because none of these had been connected to our village yet.”

The story in and of itself is an amazing one — a Nigerian girl meets a British couple on the beach while fleeing from men who want to murder her and her sister. They witness something horrible that haunts them all forever and the couple goes back to the UK. Then later on the Nigerian girl stows away and flees to the UK where she is in a detention center for years and then gets out and finds the couple — the husband then commits suicide.

The story got me, but the way it was written got me even more. You know how some people wish they could sing, or play an instrument or have some other talent? If I could have any talent in the world, it would be to write like this.

Incendiary: Chris Cleave

After I read Little Bee, of course I immediately went out and downloaded Chris Cleave’s other book without reading any reviews. I really enjoyed Incendiary as well but not the way I fell in Love with Little Bee. It is a riveting story about a lower class woman whose husband and son are killed in a terrorist attack in London (while she’s cheating on her husband with another man). I couldn’t put it down either and I think if I had read this before Little Bee I would’ve liked it more, but I had been expecting it to be written in the same style and it wasn’t at all. That being said, the man is just an amazing writing and whatever style he chooses to do, he does it well. He has a genius knack for putting you  in the head of the character, like no other writer I’ve ever read.

Outlander: Diana Gabaldon

These books are incredibly good. They make me feel smarter because I learned a lot about Scottish/English/U.S. history. But there’s an incredible love story at the heart of it all. There are 7 books in the series so far, with one more coming. I read all 7 in a row without taking breaks to read anything else, that’s how much I enjoyed them. The only thing I didn’t absolutely adore is that they’re all really long books. I almost wish they were broken up in to 14 books of half the size. But I loved them and now I’m really hoping somebody makes them into movies because they’d be awesome films — great action scenes, lots of sex and romance and incredibly likable characters!

This is getting too long as it is and I know if I don’t write about all the books I’ve read lately I’ll never get around to mentioning them in my next one because by then I’ll have read even more good material. So forgive the lack of review, but here are a few other books that I read and enjoyed:

The Sex Lives of Cannibals: Adrift in the Equatorial Pacific : by J. Marteen Troost.

Swept: Love With A Chance of Drowning: Torre Roche

The Art of Non-Conformity: Chris Guillebeau

Between Yesterday and Tomorrow: Charmaine Pauls

The Long Run: Mishka Shubaly

Also, if you purchase any of the books off of the links in this post it goes to my Amazon affiliate store and I’ll receive a small commission. Thanks for supporting me!

Normally I think people who say things like, “You stole my heart,” are cheesy.

But not in this case.

Ivan grabbed the microphone when he and Claudia made their big entrance into the reception at Terrazas de la Reina and told their guests, “Back when we first met, Claudia stole my heart. We’ve been together for so many years now, but she still continues to steal it from me again and again, every single day.”

And then he told Javier, Claudia’s son, that he had given him the greatest gift of all — that Javier taught him to be a father.

I just thought their commitment to each other and to family was absolutely beautiful.

Claudia calls her dad Pancho and it made me laugh so hard all day long. They have such a close fun bond with each other.

FAVORITE!

Haha, Javier was getting a little bored during the ceremony!

Pancho!

LOVE this next shot!

Claudia along with her brother and sister and their cousins danced a typical Greek dance together. Apparently typical Greek dances involve back tucks, who knew.

The bouquet toss was hilarious! First, Claudia whacked her sister in the face with it…

Then her sister goes out for blood! Hahahaha, I love it!

The garter toss was equally as exciting…

This is hilarious. Look at Claudia’s face.

And then look at the little girl’s face. Identical expressions. That’s right after one of the dancers jumped down into the splits.

Click here for a full slideshow!

A few datos for any brides who might be reading this and are getting married soon.

Iglesia: Nuestra Señora de los Angeles, El Golf

Centro de Eventos: Terrazas de la Reina

Vestido de Novia: Nevada Novias

Pelo y Maquillaje de la Novia: Rodrigo Farah - he’s so ridiculously good!

Animación para niños (un mini-disco): El Trencito – and I want to stop here for a minute and give them a shoutout. These guys were AMAZING. If you are having kids at your wedding and you have a separate space where you can have them all playing, you should hire Alejandro and Constanza. They set up a little mini DJ booth and had games and dancing. They kept all the little kids having SO MUCH FUN the entire time. Seriously, I wanted to join the kids party too! Not to mention that I’m pretty sure after all was said and done those children went home and slept for at least 48 hours straight.

Baile Entretenido Para Matrimonios: Vitico Candela – Victor is a crazy awesome dancer and so fantastic at getting the party going. Seriously, when he and his ladies came in the party (that was already going strong) got a second wind and people went NUTS. It was a freaking blast and I wish he’d dance at every wedding we photograph in Chile, that’s how good he is!!!

It’s been a long time coming.

People have been emailing me for years asking if I do classes or workshops. I didn’t. Up until now. But with a little encouragement from Seba and a lot of support from the Chilean wedding photographers community, I decided it was time.

I feel like I’m at the point where I have a lot to share that will help other photographers grow. I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t think that people will walk away from this workshop feeling like what they’ve learned is worth way more than what I’m charging for the day.

Information here:

http://www.kylehepp.com/workshop-2012/

Please note: The workshop is not for beginning photographers or people who want to learn how to use their cameras. And it will be all in Spanish.

Both days are halfway full so if you’re interested in signing up, I hope you can do so soon!

I’m both terrified, but totally pumped about this. When I announced the workshop I was simultaneously hoping that people would sign up right away because I’m excited about the ideas and knowledge I have to share/hoping that nobody would sign up so I didn’t have to actually do it!

It’s really scary to put yourself out there like that. But the response has been nothing but positive. After yet another email telling me to do a workshop a couple weeks ago, I thought about it and decided that yes, I would actually like to do one. So I polled a group of Chilean photographers asking if they would come if I put a workshop on and within five minutes had 44 affirmative responses. That did it. I started planning. If I was going to really do this thing I wanted to make sure to do it right.

I have to send some love to all the photographers here in Chile who have followed the blog throughout the years, who leave such kind comments, who friend me on Facebook, who send me emails, who have had my back for so long. Without you guys, I would’ve never had the courage to do this, and thanks to you, it’s going to be amazing.

We dined at the uber romantic Cafe Gejas.

Cafe Gejas is a fondue restaurant that was voted Chicago’s number one most romantic restaurant.

When Andi and I get together, you KNOW we drink champagne all night long. Well, prosecco, but same difference.

I loved all the fresh veggies, soooo delicious!

The food came out with all these yummy sauces — everything from spicy to sweet.

Dessert. OMG, dessert. How I love you.

The place was still decorated for Christmas and it gave the whole place a festive attitude.

For anyone who is in the Chicago area, you should definitely go check out Cafe Gejas! It’s amazing!

Disclaimer: According to the FTC rules I have to tell you that Cafe Gejas sponsored our meal. However, please note — I am not being forced to blog about this and I wouldn’t say any of it if it weren’t true.