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Top 5 Wednesday: July 4, 2018

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Best Books You’ve Read So Far in 2018

To participate in Top 5 Wednesday, head over to their Goodreads Group!

Alrighty, I’m going to do this in the order that I read them, not in the order that I liked them (because that would be way too hard).

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

This was my first Gillian Flynn novel and I was honestly nervous to read it. I liked the movie and was worried that the book wouldn’t be as good. But a fellow blogger assured me Flynn was an excellent writer and Gone Girl did not disappoint. In fact it kind of blew me away how much I loved it. I went online and bought it before I had even finished reading it. I look forward to reading it again sometime.

Tales of the Kingdom series // Cynthia Voigt

Oh come on, you knew this series had to be on the list somewhere, right? I reread them earlier in the year and loved them just as much as always, maybe even more. As always, this is a loosely-connected, non-magical, fantasy series, set in a medieval-esque world.

Scrappy Little Nobody by Anna Kendrick

This is one of the best autobiographies I’ve read ever, and definitely the best this year. Anna is funny and pithy and pleasantly verbose. What made it even better was listening to the audiobook version where Anna reads you the book herself.

White Oleander by Janet Fitch

This book was recommended to me from another reader because I said I wanted to branch out of my genre comfort zone and I have to admit I didn’t expect to like it. But the prose was engaging and beautiful and I found myself falling into the mind of the protagonist quickly and easily. I definitely want to read more by Janet Fitch in future.

The Martian by Andy Weir

I had one main issue with this book (mentioned in this post), but everything else about it was excellent. It was funny and the format was interesting. If you liked the movie you will most likely like the book as it is extremely similar. I found it really hard to put down.

What are the best books you’ve read in 2018 so far? Leave me a comment or link me to your own post.

Musing Monday: July 2, 2018

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Musing Mondays is a weekly meme, hosted by Ambrosia at The Purple Booker, that asks you to choose one of the following prompts to answer:

I’m currently reading…
Up next I think I’ll read…
I bought the following book(s) in the past week…
I’m super excited to tell you about (book/author/bookish-news)…
I’m really upset by (book/author/bookish-news)…
I can’t wait to get a copy of…
I wish I could read ____, but…
I blogged about ____ this past week…

THIS WEEK’S RANDOM QUESTION: How do you feel about book of the month type clubs/groups?

I’m really kind of upset by… This Sarah Dessen reread I’m on. I’ve only reread the first two so far, but I definitely didn’t like them as much as I did the first time around. Admittedly these two were not favorites of her books already, so there’s a chance… But I think it’s definitely possible I have outgrown Sarah Dessen.

I still totally recommend her as an author though, seriously. This experiment is not about whether she’s good or not, it’s about whether I can still enjoy the style of her books at my age.

How do you feel about book of the month type clubs/groups?
I mean in theory I think they are pretty cool. I’ve always wanted to try a book of the month style club where we all read the same thing and discuss it, but I have never found one near me that read the type of books I would want to read even some of the time. Like I’m open to trying new genres, but if my genres never come up even a little, that’s not going to work for me I’m just going to be bored.

Some slight blogging changes…

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So I’ve been feeling a little overwhelmed lately with being in charge of everything to do with moving to a new place and moving my mom in with us and working hard on my recovery, so my blogging is really falling by the wayside.

I’ve also been thinking a lot about original content vs. the weekly book memes I do. Obviously my blog is weighted to the latter and I’d rather it was more even.

So I’ve been thinking about what I can change.

First of all, I found a new format for my quotes. Instead of posting them all in one post I’ve been scheduling daily quote posts whenever I finish a book. I really like doing it this way and I’m definitely keeping that.

Which brings me to the fact that I have several book meme posts that are quote centric, and that seems redundant…

So secondly, I’m cutting out Thursday Quotables. I love it, but it just doesn’t make sense to have it when I have my other quote posts.

I’m definitely keeping First Lines Fridays, it’s my absolute favorite of the bookish memes I do. I love the idea of judging a book solely off the first line(s). But as we all know some really good books have really boring first lines, so I don’t do a FLF for every book I get like I could.

Which brings me to the third thing:  From now on, Teaser Tuesday is solely to supplement First Lines Fridays. Whenever a book has a first line so crappy I’m not willing to do an FLF post for it, I’ll do a Teaser Tuesday on it! That way I get at least one teaser “judge this book on a quote” style post for each book I read.

Fourthly, I’m going to quit WWW Wednesday because I feel like I repeat myself too much when I use that one… Almost everything I have to say about the books I say someplace else in some other format.

Fifth on the list of changes, I will now be alternating What Are You Reading Wednesday and Friday 56. Meaning, if I do one on a book I’m reading, I won’t do the other. Sometimes when I’m looking on page 34/34% I can’t find anything worth posting, so when that happens I’ll try using page 56/56% instead. That way I have at least one post of that sort each week.

I plan to keep doing Top 5 Wednesday whenever I have something for the prompt, and I would like to get back on top of Musing Monday. So those aren’t changes, just something I’ll try to make more of an effort on.

As for book photo posts:  I will keep doing my original Dedication Spotlight idea, and I will keep doing Tomes & Tea occasionally. I’m also hoping that after this move is done I can get back into doing some Book Photo Challenges.

And of course I hope to keep coming up with reviews and other original content.

Older posts from the book memes I’m quitting will still be available on my blog, they just won’t be linked in the sidebar anymore, and for the record I still totally like those lovely memes, I just feel like I need to focus a bit more.

That’s everything, I think. Wish me luck!

Mid-Year Reading Recap

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Now that June’s about to end it’s time to look upon our reading progress so far this year and share some book opinions!

Oh man I forgot I got tagged in this, I suck! Thank you for the tag, Scarlet @flamingmirrorbookish!

1. Best book you read so far this year
I’m tempted to mention one of my favorite books again, but I won’t, I’ll choose one that was new to me this year: White Oleander by Janet Fitch. The prose is absolutely beautiful and I loved the way the main character, Astrid, looked at things.

2. Worst book you read so far this year
Guys obviously it was the Twilight books. The worst of all of them was the partial from Edward’s POV, Midnight Sun.

3. Completed any series?
Oh sure. Most of the books I read are part of a series anyway. As for complete series I read this year, they are all rereads:

  • Tales of the Kingdom // Cynthia Voigt
    My favorite all time book series. These are loosely-connected, non-magical fantasy. I recommend it to everyone, always.
  • Twilight Saga // Stephenie Meyer
    My least favorite series, which I recommend to literally nobody. Love yourselves.
  • The Darkest Minds // Alexandra Bracken

4. Anticipated read for the second half of the year

Oh! Muse of Nightmares by Laini Taylor! I have it pre-ordered and I am so eager to have it!

5.A book that disappointed you
Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman. I loved the film, but the book just didn’t click with me even a little. I don’t even know if I’ll read the one about the aunts now…

6. How many books have you read so far this year?
I’m glad to say I managed to reach half my goal for the year this month, by just a hair. I have read 38/75 books this year! 🙂

7. A book that made you laugh
The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster. I know technically it’s called a children’s book, but really any age group can enjoy this book and I recommend it to all.

8. Estimated read count for the year?
I think I’ll definitely meet my goal of 75 if I can keep this up!

Alrighty I tagged some people on tumblr, but I actually want to tag all my WordPress readers. Give me the deets on how your 2018 goals are going at this halfway point in the year! Either comment or make your own post and drop me a link.

What Are You Reading Wednesday: June 27, 2018

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What Are You Reading Wednesdays #WAYRW is a weekly feature on It’s A Reading Thing. Everyone is welcome to participate.

Grab the book you are currently reading and answer three questions:

  1. What’s the name of your current read?
  2. Go to page 34 in your book or 34% in your eBook and share a couple of sentences.
  3. Would you like to live in the world that exists within your book? Why or why not?

  1. The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
  2. Milo and Tock wondered what strange adventures lay ahead. The Humbug speculated on how he’d ever become involved in such a hazardous undertaking. And the crowd waved and cheered wildly, for, while they didn’t care at all about anyone arriving, they were always very pleased to see someone go.
  3. I mean the heart says yes, but the brain says no. The logical part of me is like “you would go insane” and the emotional part of me is like “THAT WOULD BE THE MOST AMAZING FUN PLACE TO EVER LIVE”. So that’s me confused.

 

Denton Public Library Summer Reading Challenge Update

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Well, I signed up for the Summer Reading Challenge just a few days after it started, and I’m happy to say I’ve already completed the program by reading all 10 hours and completing all 10 activities.

When I used to do this every year it was set up a little differently, but I think this version is just as fun really. It’s just got a more definite ending than the old one.

The cool thing is the prizes. After 5 hours and 5 activities you get a free book. I chose Tina Fey’s Bossypants, which I blogged about winning a little while back. Then after you finish the full 10 hours + 10 activities, you get entered to win 1 of 3 Chromebooks. And for each 5 hours you read past that you get your name entered again.

The thing I love about that prize is that, especially in summer, the 3 libraries here are often the only air conditioned place that people can go for free and spend all day. So a lot of the poorer people in town wind up putting in lots of library time when it’s hot out. I personally used to spend every day there in summer, and every afternoon during the school year. So most of the people in for the Chromebooks will be people who probably couldn’t have gotten something like that on their own.

Anyway, I am at 762 minutes (that’s 12 hours, 42 minutes) right now even with this minor slump I’ve been in this month, so I’m pretty darn proud of myself.

If any of you are doing Summer Reading Challenges of your own, I’d love to know how you’re doing! 🙂

Progress: Undiscovered Gyrl by Allison Burnett

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Lee is on page 70 of 304

I am really not enjoying this book much… The POV character is extremely unlikable. Pretty sure that’s the Point, but with the way this book is written (in blog posts) there’s nothing else to focus on EXCEPT the MC and I hate her entire personality…

If I don’t start enjoying myself by page 104 I’m going to DNF. (I might jump to the end and read a specific part that I’m curious about, but then DNF.)

Top 5 Wednesday: May 9, 2018

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Characters You’d Want as Family

You can say this in a broad way or be specific (i.e. _______ would be a cool aunt, ______would be a great older brother, etc.)
To participate in Top 5 Wednesday, head over to their Goodreads Group!

Almost every main character from The Tillerman books // The Tillerman Cycle by Cynthia Voigt

This is probably cheating to be like “oh yes the entire extended family unit from 7 whole books” but whatever! I love the Tillermans more than I’ve ever loved any characters from any media.

I don’t even think I can properly explain it, but if a god came down from some heaven and was like “I will reset the world and let you invent a family for yourself, tell me what you want” I would just dump these books in their lap and just:

“I want Dicey, Sammy, James, Maybeth, and Gram first of all. And I still want my real Granny too because I think she and Gram would get along scarily well, so just keep that in mind. Secondly, Bullet needs to be alive and HAPPY and if you have the time to make Miss Liza not go crazy and die that would be great. No no, I have no need for John the abusive husband, that bitter prick can die. I don’t want Francis Verricker either. He doesn’t count as a part of that family and if you bring him to life I will kill him myself so don’t waste your time. Feel free to throw in Mina Smith’s whole family AND Tamer Shipp (and his family probably he seems to like them) and Jeff Greene’s too. Actually wait, just Jeff, Brother Thomas, and the Professor. Melody’s whole side of the family can choke. Okay great get crackin’ on all that I’m going to go reread the series.”

And whatever god offered me this option would completely regret it, but I would insist we shake on it as soon as possible so they’d be locked into that whole deal.

The Gangsey // The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater

Yep, I’m still cheating. But honestly after my last answer this one probably seems like nothing at all. In fact, you might even let me get away with having Blue’s Fox Way family and the Gray Man? Yes. Excellent. So all the decent humans from The Raven Cycle. Check.

Ripred // The Underland Chronicles by Suzanne Collins

Who wouldn’t want a GIANT FUCKING RAT who is excellent at killing as family?

Honestly though, he would be excellent to have around. He’s sarcastic and rude which I can dig because I too am sarcastic and rude, he can kill anyone so Guard Rat, and he mostly just wants to eat shrimp in cream sauce and read books so like…. A nice companion all in all.

Dashti // Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale

She’s so kind and loyal and a great friend. Plus she has healing magic that can also help relieve the pain of chronic injuries so… Useful. Fuck you Mr. Chiropractor my new fam Dashti the Mucker can help me by just laying her hand on me and singing me a nice song. Eat it.

And like she’s lovely and brave and I always thought she’d be an excellent friend.

Mr. & Mrs. Fitzwilliam Darcy // Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Okay so first I was torn between the two. The sassy lady or the most awkward man to ever live… And then I decided I’d just take them both!

I’d get to enjoy the sass of Eliza Bennet and the awkward kindness of Fitzwilliam Darcy AND if we were related…um….you know… HE’S SUPER RICH AND I WANT TO BE SUPER RICH BY PROXIMITY SO DEAL WITH IT. But mostly I just like them. The money is only a bonus.

Wow I am very demanding in my list of potential family… What about you? What book characters would you wish to have as family?