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Top 5 Wednesday: August 23, 2017

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Books from Before You Joined ________

These are some of your favorite books from before you joined the online book community, whether that be booktube, goodreads, blogs, bookstagram, twitter, tumblr, etc.
To participate in Top 5 Wednesday, just head over to their Goodreads Group and join the fun!

  1. Tree by Leaf by Cynthia Voigt
  2. Homecoming (The Tillerman Cycle, book 1) by Cynthia Voigt
  3. Elske (Tales of the Kingdom, book 4) by Cynthia Voigt
  4. It Was on Fire When I Lay Down on It by Robert Fulghum
  5. The Goose Girl (The Books of Bayern, book 1) by Shannon Hale

Gee… I guess I sort of like Cynthia Voigt, huh?

What were your favorite books from before you joined the online reader community? Comment here or make your own post and leave me a link so I can check the books out!

WWW Wednesday: August 23, 2017

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Welcome to WWW Wednesday! This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at Should be Reading and revived on Taking on a World of Words. Just answer the three W’s!

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Currently Reading:  Strange the Dreamer (Strange the Dreamer, book 1) by Laini Taylor
I’m not very far into this one yet because I hit a bit of a slump for a few days, but I really like it so far. I love the way Lazlo thinks. Except for the part where he doesn’t try to just straight murder Thyon Nero. Fuck that guy…

I’ve just gotten into Part II and I’m fascinated by the blue people! I’m still not all that sure who they are or how they play into things, but I am definitely fascinated and eager to find out more!

It’s also just really refreshing reading a book about someone who loves books and words and stories.

I’m still working on Specials by Scott Westerfeld (I’m trying not to rush through it because it’s just an easy reread) and of course Persuasion by Jane Austen.

Recently Finished:  Crashed (Cold Awakening, book 2) by Robin Wasserman
I reviewed this book.

I’m glad I got back to this story. Wasserman gave a masterful depiction of prejudice and institutional oppression. I don’t want to put it all down to Wasserman’s being Jewish, that would feel like I was disregarding her intelligence and writing ability, but I don’t doubt her heritage played some part in making her so good at accurately portraying an allegory for racism.

I still maintain that I don’t really like any of the main characters personality-wise, but I don’t think that detracts much from my enjoyment of the story, and anyway it’s just a personal preference.

Reading Next:  The Cursed Queen (The Imposter Queen, book 2) by Sarah Fine
I got my hands on this one and despite my problems with the writing of the first book, I’m eager to know what happens next in the story. In fact, I read the first bit of this one to see if I wanted to use it in a First Lines Fridays post and found myself reading past the prologue and into the first chapter!

I did notice mention of some sort of marks that indicate how good a warrior is, which seem to be self-harm. I’m a little worried about that and I really hope this doesn’t go the way of Carve the Mark with glorification of self-harm… I’m hoping that Fine won’t do that though.

Homecoming (The Tillerman Cycle, book 1) by Cynthia Voigt
I have been wanting to reread The Tillerman Cycle for a while now, and this seems as good a time as any.

I love Cynthia Voigt’s writing style. I’ve mentioned this before I think, but I’ve noticed there are some books that just completely change the way you look at the world. Cynthia’s books are like that. It doesn’t matter how many times I read them, they always make me see things in such a unique way, a way I can’t quite manage without Cynthia’s writing voice.

Musing Monday: August 21, 2017

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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: Do you steer away from heavy emotional books?

I blogged about ____ this past week…

  • Monday, August 14 – Musing Monday, where I talked about what I was reading at the moment and whether YA was just for teens.
  • Tuesday, August 15 – Teaser Tuesday using Crashed by Robin Wasserman, then a joint update on my progress through Crashed and Pretties by Scott Westerfeld, which I finished later that same day.
  • Wednesday, August 16 – My longest ever WWW Wednesday post in the morning, a little update on Crashed, then WAYRW in the evening (also using Crashed).
  • Thursday, August 17 – Thursday Quotables, pulling a quote from Persuasion this time, then that night I finished and did a rating post for Crashed.
  • Friday, August 18 – I got a review posted for Crashed in the wee hours of Friday morning, then a First Lines Fridays post later that morning, a currently reading photo post featuring Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor and Specials by Scott Westerfeld, and in the evening a Friday 56 using Strange the Dreamer.
  • Saturday, August 19 – My weekly update on my slow progress through Jane Austen’s Persuasion was the only post on Saturday.
  • Sunday, August 20 – A couple little commentary posts on Strange the Dreamer.

Do you steer away from heavy emotional books?
Not always, but a lot of the time yes. I don’t mind when a book makes me emotional, but I have a tendency to over-empathize with the characters in novels so if they are constantly feeling stressed and sad and hopeless I too feel stressed and sad and hopeless. That doesn’t mean I wouldn’t read a heavy book if it was good enough, but it would probably take me some time and I would almost certainly need something lighter to pick me back up when it was done.

What Are You Reading Wednesdays: August 16, 2017

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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. Crashed (Cold Awakening, book 2) by Robin Wasserman
  2. Org dreams are nothing but random neural firings, spurts of color and unprompted emotion. The story comes later, in that instant before waking, your muddled mind making sense of the chaos by stringing the randomness into a narrative.
  3. I mean, yeah, if I could get a voluntary download and then avoid Jude. In fact, I’d avoid everyone. I’d go off on my own and live like a mechanical recluse!

WWW Wednesday: August 16, 2017

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Welcome to WWW Wednesday! This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at Should be Reading and revived on Taking on a World of Words. Just answer the three W’s!

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Currently Reading:  Crashed (Cold Awakening, book 2) by Robin Wasserman
Lia is slowly becoming slightly less annoying, so that’s good news! Jude, on the other hand, is not getting any less annoying.

I’ve taken to entertaining myself by shipping Lia and Riley. That is to say, I don’t actually care whether they date or just form a good friendship, as long as one of those things happens!

I just wish Lia would try to figure things out a bit more!

I’m glad I got myself back to this series. Not sure where I’m going to get the third book in the trilogy though! (My library doesn’t have it…)

Specials (Uglies, book 3) by Scott Westerfeld
This is my favorite book in the Uglies series. I find the Specials fascinating.

I also like that we get to see a lot more of Shay in this one like we did back in Uglies. I know I’m not exactly meant to like her, but I really do.

I feel I should warn potential readers:
There are mentions of self-harm that could be triggering to some readers. The narration doesn’t seem to portray it as a good thing, but some of the characters do.

Persuasion by Jane Austen
And as will probably be the case for most of the rest of the year, I’m still working my way slowly through Persuasion. I really hope something interesting happens so I can find the will to read more than one chapter a week!

Recently Finished:  Pretties (Uglies, book 2) by Scott Westerfeld
I’ve read this one 2 or 3 times now (2 that I have a record of, but I could swear I read it another time before…)

Despite all the New Pretty slang that makes everything they talk/think about sound vapid and stupid, I really enjoy watching Tally work her way through problems and situations.

I do wish she would have thought of Shay a little more often! Or at least, would have acted on those thoughts. Not that I’m shocked, she did the same thing back in Uglies. Tally tends to forget Shay whenever she meets a guy.

Again I should mention a trigger warning for self-harm, although there are much fewer mentions in Pretties than in Specials.

The Impostor Queen (The Impostor Queen, book 1) by Sarah Fine
I reviewed this one, read it here.

This is one of those books I liked and didn’t like at the same time. Or I should say, I liked the story, but I didn’t enjoy reading the book all that much. Luckily, it makes up for occasionally being boring or annoying by being a quick read with good themes.

And I really do look forward to getting the sequel from the library. I’m interested to see how things turn out, and also whether my predictions turn out to be true. (Also I guess I’m hoping it will be a little more enjoyable to read.)

Reading Next:  Strange the Dreamer (Strange the Dreamer, book 1) by Laini Taylor
I was able to buy this book new, which is something I don’t get to do very often, but at the time that it came in I was in the middle of another series and I put this one aside for later and then forgot it like a dummy.

I had been considering rereading Laini’s Daughter of Smoke and Bone series, which is what reminded me that I still hadn’t gotten down to reading Strange!

I’m really looking forward to this book, and if booklr is to be believed, I won’t be disappointed.

I haven’t decided yet if I will go ahead and reread the fourth book in the Uglies series, Extras, or not. I guess it depends on if I find myself needing an easy reread while reading some other book.

Musing Monday: August 14, 2017

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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: What are your feelings on YA? Do you think it is just for young adults or do you think it’s cool full grown adults like it too.

I’m currently reading…

 

I was having a little trouble getting into Crashed, which I anticipated (not because I didn’t want to read it, but because I find Lia kind of annoying) so I thought it would be a good time to do a reread of something easy to get through as well. I was going to do the whole Uglies series, but I reread book 1 not too long ago, so I just jumped straight to Pretties.

I’m also still working my way through Persuasion… I’ll read another chapter of that this week just like I committed to doing, though I don’t think I’ll do more than the one.

Interesting things are starting to happen in Crashed about 1/3 of the way in, but I’m already 2/3 of the way through Pretties so I’ll probably get to Specials (Uglies, book 3, my favorite of the series) before Crashed is completely finished. We shall see!

What are your feelings on YA? Do you think it is just for young adults or do you think it’s cool full grown adults like it too.
Well, as a 25-year-old reading YA, I might be a bit biased… Honestly, I fully believe that this genre is for anyone and everyone.

In fact, when I first became an “adult” I tried to move on from YA, thinking that it was only for teens or whatever, but what I found was a lot of books with the exact same disappointing storylines interspersed with unnecessary sex scenes. So I went back to what I enjoyed!

That isn’t to say that I don’t ever read anything else, but YA is my main deal (as you can probably tell if you have ever looked at my blog for even a minute).

What Are You Reading Wednesdays: August 9, 2017

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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 Impostor Queen (The Impostor Queen, book 1) by Sarah Fine
  2. The Valtia raises her arm, and the crowd parts to allow the men through. They stumble up the steps and throw themselves at her feet, their chests heaving.
  3. I honestly can’t even say. I’m 5 chapters in and I feel like I still know absolutely nothing about this world! It’s either really poor writing (re: world-building) or really quality writing (re: putting me in the main character’s mindset). Only time will tell I suppose!

Top 5 Wednesday: August 9, 2017

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Second Book is Best

We’ve talked about series that went downhill, and series that are worth it, but which series were best in the middle?
To participate in Top 5 Wednesday, just head over to their Goodreads Group and join the fun!

  1. A Court of Thorns and Roses Series // Sarah J. Maas
    This series isn’t complete yet, but of the books that are out, it’s better in the middle.
  2. Uglies Series // Scott Westerfeld
  3. The Tillerman Cycle // Cynthia Voigt

Unfortunately, I was only able to think of 3 series that fit this prompt for me. I tend to think the entire series is equally good or that the beginning is best.

I’d love to know what series you guys think were best in the middle! Comment or make your own post and leave a link here.

WWW Wednesday: August 9, 2017

LeeLeave a comment

Welcome to WWW Wednesday! This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at Should be Reading and revived on Taking on a World of Words. Just answer the three W’s!

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Currently Reading:  The Imposter Queen (The Imposter Queen, book 1) by Sarah Fine
I don’t know a whole lot about this book right now, but it feels like the right book to be starting after Jane Austen and Maureen Johnson.

It’s been on my TBR for long enough that I’m embarrassed to say exactly how long, and I’ve mentioned it in a First Lines Friday post as well.

I have high hopes for this book! It’s got fantasy and magic and royalty, what could go wrong? (I probably shouldn’t have said that…)

Recently Finished:  Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
Continuing my reread of Austen novels, I grabbed my second favorite of her novels. I didn’t enjoy it as much as the first time I read it, but I can’t really be too surprised considering that was 10 whole years ago!

And I finally realized what is different about the way Austen writes:  Her books read like very long, elaborate letters where the reader is the recipient! I love that!

I also love how she likes to state things as if it’s all praise and everything is lovely, but if you look past the initial words to the tone you realize she is having a dig at her own characters!
It reminds me of a thing my mom used to do. Someone would say something like “I almost got hit by a car!” and my mom would sweetly reply “I’m sorry you almost got hit by a car” and the person would thank her and go about their lives not noticing the subtle inflection on the word ‘almost’ which changes the entire meaning of the phrase!

The Last Little Blue Envelope (Little Blue Envelope, book 2) by Maureen Johnson
I started this a little early, before I had actually finished Sense and Sensibility. And I finished it faster than I expected as well.

I didn’t know I had a review in me until I sat down to write a few lines on Goodreads about who I would recommend the book to, but I did and you can read it here!

Did I mention I’m still not over the scene on page 101? You know, the scene where she gets toilet water in her hair and doesn’t wish she was still wearing it braided instead of loose and then just a few seconds later does wish she was still wearing it braided so she could feel Keith’s lips on her ear when he whispers something (and she still has toilet water hair) and then .02 seconds later is actually SWOONING LIKE A VICTORIAN LADY BECAUSE HER HORMONES ARE JUST TOO UNCONTROLLABLE! Because I’m still not over that scene even a little bit. If anything it’s getting worse.

Reading Next:  Crashed (Cold Awakening, book 2) by Robin Wasserman
This book was republished as ‘Shattered’ (and the series was previously called ‘Skinned’).

I’m going to do my best to get into Crashed because I don’t want to wait too long on this series and forget what happened in the first book.

I’m not worried the book is going to be bad or anything, I just hit a slump a while back that put me off reading it for a while. My only real concerns are Second Book Syndrome and the fact that the few times I saw Jude in book one (Skinned / Frozen) I thought he was too preachy…

I have a feeling it may be hard to get into at first (because of the SBS), but I’ll keep at it this time even if I add another book to the mix because I really want to complete this trilogy.

Musing Monday: August 7, 2017

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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: Do you ever wish you could go back and fall in love with reading all over again?

I blogged about ____ this past week…

  • Sunday, July 30 – Read-A-Thon! Blogged about my progress reading through The Beast is an Animal (completed) and Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen (less progress made than I’d have liked).
  • Monday, July 31 – Finally remembered to post the quotes I liked from The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater and did my July Wrap-Up post, although I wish it had been longer.
  • Tuesday, August 1 – Did my Teaser Tuesday, finished writing my review of The Beast is an Animal by Peternelle van Arsdale, and posted an update on the goals I had set for myself for 2017.
  • Wednesday, August 2 – First came WWW Wednesday, where I determined the book I would read after Sense and Sensibility. Then, I did a belated Musing Monday post, almost entirely for the excuse of talking about food, but also partially to set a plan for meeting my goal of finally finishing Persuasion by Jane Austen. And of course, my #WAYRW post.
  • Friday, August 4 – I got 2 of my Friday book tags done, First Lines Fridays & Friday 56, then later that night an update on my Persuasion progress, which was better than expected, but exactly as painful as expected.
  • Sunday, August 6 – A couple updates on Sense and Sensibility, finally finished answering all the questions on a Book Questionnaire I was tagged in on booklr, then because I needed a break from regency writing I went ahead and started my next book, The Last Little Blue Envelope, and posted both a bookstagram and a little commentary after the first few chapters.

Nothing exactly remarkable, but overall a good past week for me.

Do you ever wish you could go back and fall in love with reading all over again?
I’m sure all readers do in some respect, but lately I’ve caught myself thinking about all the things that contributed to my love of certain books, and I’ve become convinced that if I were able to go back it wouldn’t be the same. And I certainly wouldn’t change my current specific feelings towards reading for anything!

I’d love to know your opinion on the matter. Comment with your answer or a link to your own post about it!