Musing Monday: August 6, 2018

August 6, 2018LeeLeave a comment

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: Have you ever had an argument over a book?

I’m currently reading… So many books lol
I’m still occasionally reading chapters of Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell, but not as much as I ought to be. Then there’s The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen which I started as part of my Dessen Reread then realized I needed a break from YA Contemporary. With my friend Ono I am reading They Never Came Back (Caroline B. Cooney) so that one will take a little while since we are going a few chapters at a time. There’s a similar situation with Neil Gaiman’s Coraline, since my mother wanted to read it with me and stopped me at chapter 3. Mainly I’m reading Searching for Dragons, the second novel in Patricia C. Wrede’s Enchanted Forest Chronicles. I’m loving it almost as much as the first one so I’ll probably move on to the third one soon.

Have you ever had an argument over a book?
I can’t really think of one? I mean, I have had a few men try to “teach” me about the classics and such and those conversations certainly had the antagonistic feeling of arguments, but they weren’t really. I guess the readers I know are pretty laid back.

The closest I’ve come to a real argument, I guess, was convincing my mother to let me read Harry Potter in middle school. She was afraid it would make me turn to witchcraft or something because some church ladies told her inaccurate things about the series.

Musing Monday: July 23, 2018

July 23, 2018LeeLeave a comment

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: Do you ever make a reading playlist?

Up next I think I’ll read… Literally anything other than what I’m reading right now? Basically I’m getting a little contemporary’d out and I’ve decided that even though I’m in the middle (okay, the beginning) of a book right now, I’m going to hit pause on the Sarah Dessen Reread and read something else. Probably something fantasy because that’s my preferred genre and I MISS IT and no one can stop me. So I guess the list of “currently reading” books on my Goodreads is just going to keep growing…

Do you ever make a reading playlist?
God I dream of being that organised about things. Honestly, I do. I wish I could be one of those book bloggers who constantly makes character themed soundtracks and playlists, that would be so cool. The most I ever do is, if a book specifically mentions an artist or song or whatever, I will go look it up and play it for a bit as I read. But feel free to send me your book playlists; I’d love them!

Musing Monday: July 16, 2018

July 16, 2018July 16, 2018LeeLeave a comment

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: Do you ever get teased or looked at oddly for reading?

I’m super excited to tell you about… I HAVE A LIBRARY IN THE NEW HOUSE!!! We moved Thursday and the first thing I did was unpack my books. The library is still kind of a mess because I don’t have all my notebooks and stuff unpacked so those boxes are in here, but I don’t care because my beautiful books are nice and neat on their shelves looking like joy in physical form.
(The only drawback is I officially have no room left on my fiction shelves so I’m going to have to find new bookshelves!)

Do you ever get teased or looked at oddly for reading?
I’ve had some odd looks before, but it’s not so much because of the reading as it is because books have made me laugh out loud or cry in public before. I get so into them I don’t realize my reactions are showing on my face until some random middle-aged lady is staring at me funny. But no one ever says anything they just do that face with their eyebrows raised and then move on.

Musing Monday: July 9, 2018

July 9, 2018LeeLeave a comment

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:

THIS WEEK’S RANDOM QUESTION: How does reading making you feel?

I’m super excited to tell you about (book/author/bookish-news)… I got some book merch recently for the new house and I’m so excited about it. It’s all Raven Cycle merch, but I got a print and some throw pillows off Redbubble.

I’m not at the new place right now, but tomorrow I’ll come back here and add pictures of the stuff.

I got:

Watercolor Raven – A pretty photographic print of a raven over some fancy cursive text from the book. It’s so so pretty!
“Safe as Life” Pillow – It’s a really pretty sky blue pillow that goes well with a painting I already own.
“Dreamers are to be classified as Weapons” Pillow – It’s got this floral print thing on it too that goes with one of my abstract paintings I already own.

How does reading making you feel?
Well, it’s a satisfying experience no matter what, but when the book is really good it’s way better. Like it empties my mind and my stress and fills it all back up with another world and a kind of ultra-contentment. There’s nothing at all like it. Which is probably why I consider access to reading material pretty much the most important thing in life.

Musing Monday: July 2, 2018

July 2, 2018July 2, 2018LeeLeave a comment

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…

June 29, 2018LeeLeave a comment

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!

Musing Monday: January 1, 2018

January 1, 2018January 1, 2018LeeLeave a comment

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:

THIS WEEK’S RANDOM QUESTION: Do you take part in any book challenges? If you do you find yourself keeping up and making the posts on the other blogs?

I’m currently reading…
All The Crooked Saints by Maggie Stiefvater

I had been waiting to start this one and finally got it from the library last week. I’m only about 1/4 of the way in so far, but I’m liking it. The narrator is pretty funny and the descriptive language is fantastic as always with Maggie.

Do you take part in any book challenges? If you do you find yourself keeping up and making the posts on the other blogs?
I do the Goodreads challenge, but I’ve yet to try any other challenges. I would like to, and almost did last year, but I just kept forgetting like a dodo….

Musing Monday: December 18, 2017

December 18, 2017LeeLeave a comment

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:

THIS WEEK’S RANDOM QUESTION: Have you ever wanted to become a character in a book so you could actually experience the world you’re reading about?

I’m super excited to tell you about (book/author/bookish-news)… This is more of a personal bookish news, but I’m so glad about it. We had been doing some small work on getting the second room in order so I could have a library again. It’s basically been storage and all my books that I owned have been in boxes because everything was just crammed in there without any organization. Well we were slowly making some headway on the room so that we could even have space to start organizing things and finally we got to a point where we could make substantial seeming changes.

So far it’s only 2/6 fiction books unpacked, but we’ve gotten a whole half the room cleared out and one of my smaller fiction shelves is filled and sitting in the spot of the room it’s going to live in forever, which is way more progress than previously!

Hubby’s goal is to have all my books unpacked by the end of the year because he’s lovely and he knows how my books make me feel happier. In fact, if someone were here to monitor me they would see a direct correlation between me doing better mentally with each time we made noticeable progress on the library…

So there’s still a lot of work to do, but I’m so happy about what’s gotten done. Especially since the room is now at a point where I can look at it and easily picture exactly how everything will be arranged when it’s done.

(Also I decided to rearrange my shelving method once I can get to all my books at once, but this post is already getting long.)

Have you ever wanted to become a character in a book so you could actually experience the world you’re reading about?
My single most common daydream is that of “vacationing” inside a book. Like somehow I have the ability to just step into the story at will. I can’t necessarily change the major events, but I can interact with the world in small ways. Sometimes I will just lay in bed and imagine myself living any old day in some world I enjoy, talking to characters I love (punching characters I don’t), and just exploring. If I was a writer it would be my own little slice-of-life fan fiction for all my favorite books lol

Musing Monday: November 20, 2017

November 21, 2017LeeLeave a comment

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:

THIS WEEK’S RANDOM QUESTION: Do you like or dislike series books?

I’m currently reading… Rick Riordan’s demigod books.
I didn’t intend to be rushing through them like this, it just sort of happened. I thought I would read them a little at a time while reading other things and just work my way through them all slowly, but apparently not! Once I started I just couldn’t stop. I’ve gone through 8 since the 13th of the month and I’m starting another one in the morning!

In fact, reading one of those books is the reason this post is going up after midnight (and therefore not technically on Monday). I got caught up reading and didn’t even notice the time!

Do you like or dislike series books?
I love a good series. I mean, my favorite genre is YA Fantasy, which really lends itself well to the series format. Also I just hate to leave a world and characters I enjoy!

But I have to admit lately, especially with all these really popular series going on, I sometimes find myself wishing for a quality stand-alone!

Musing Monday: November 6, 2017

November 6, 2017LeeLeave a comment

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: What do you think of ghostwriters??

I blogged about ____ this past week…

It wasn’t my greatest week, blogging-wise. I just didn’t really have the energy to do much of anything. I did get some books read though, so I’m not going to beat myself up over it.

Tuesday, October 31 – I finally got myself to finish Unmade by Sarah Rees Brennan and I posted a rating for it. I didn’t wind up reviewing it though, there just wasn’t much to say at all. It was kind of a disappointment compared to the rest of the series…
Wednesday, November 1 – I put out my Monthly Reading Wrap-Up (Part 1 & Part 2) and I think overall October was a pretty good month. I managed 13 books (plus part of a 14th)! This is the last month I’ll have to do two-parter Wrap-Ups. I was doing it because I like to tag each individual title and author, but that usually means it’s got too many tags to show up in the reader. Luckily my lovely husband helped me come up with a solution that lets me tag everything, but still put all the books in one long post. From now on I’ll be doing a book list style Reading Wrap-Up like the ones I’ve been doing, but adding a separate post where I talk about the month more generally and about my blogging, and just link from there to the book list, and this post would show up in the reader because it would have very few tags.
Friday, November 3 – First Lines Fridays went up as always, mostly because I schedule those ahead of time, and then because I gave into the urge to reread Suzanne Collins’ Underland Chronicles I managed to get a Friday 56 up as well. As was pointed out, this week’s line was even more random than usual! Haha!
Saturday, November 4 – I finished Gregor the Overlander and as always there was a rating post. I also posted a quote that tickled me from the very first page.
Sunday, November 5 – I invented a Chai Mocha for my Tomes & Tea bookstagram and read pretty quickly all the way through Gregor and the Prophecy of Bane (rating post) and shared a quote from it that fits my life perfectly, especially this time of the year.

What do you think of ghostwriters??
I guess on the one hand I think it’s a good system. That is, there are some who have a story to tell, but aren’t skilled writers, and I know they hire people to help them write their stories. And often those wind up published under only the name of the person whose story it was to begin with. So in that instance I don’t mind it at all.

But then I think of the times when some author or other takes credit for work they didn’t even put the slightest effort into. And then it just annoys me.

Maybe if I knew more about the ways it was all done I might have a more definite opinion, but for now I just have a sort of wishy-washy “eeehhhhh” sort of opinion about it I suppose.