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Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly bookish meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl that features a different bookish topic every week.
Today’s topic is Books with [Item] on the Cover
I chose pianos for the item on the cover because I’ve been trying to be better on the piano and I’m hoping to motivate myself to practice a little more. It’s not working but hey, at least I found some books with gorgeous covers!
Top Ten Books with Pianos on the Cover
The Piano Man’s Daughter by Timohy Findley – This is a historical fiction set in Canada. I have not read or heard of the author, but it’s got great reviews and I’m curious about it.
The Secret Pianist by Andie Newton – A newly published historical fiction that reminds me of books in the vein of Madeline Martin. It’s set during WW2 and gives me the same kind of vibes.
Pianos and Flowers by Alexander McCall Smith – I read his book, The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency years ago and enjoyed it but I’ve never read anything since. This is a book of short stories so maybe a good place to get back into his stories.
Death in D Minor by Alexia Gordon – The second book in the Gethsemane Brown Mysteries series with a classical musician as the mystery-solving protagonist.
The Bear and the Piano by David Litchfield – This is a picture book that sounds absolutely adorable! I think I’d love to read it.
Forbidden Melody by Magnolia Robbins – An LGBT romance that looks really good. Two musicians falling in love, that sounds right up my alley!
Mad Boys by Heather Long – This is the second book in a new adult, reverse harem romance series, not something I’m usually interested in, but I love the cover!
Lessons by Ian McEwan – I’ve only ever read Atonement by the author, but this one sounds really good too!
Crescendo by Allen Cheney – This is a biography but I don’t know anything about the person of topic, Fred Allen. I do love the cover though.
Middle C by William H. Gass – I don’t even know what this book is about, but I love the representation of part of a piano on the cover and had to include it!
Have you read any of these books? What did you think of them? Would you read any of these books?
Welcome to the Sunday Post, a weekly meme hosted by Kimberly @ Caffeinated Reviewer to share weekly news and updates on what we’ve been up to on our blog, with our books, and book-related happenings.
All the Ghouls and Ghosts
The highlight of last week was Halloween!
We don’t really “celebrate” Halloween in Malaysia and we’ve never gone trick-or-treating, but now that we’re in Canada and immersed in the Halloween culture, we loved watching the Halloween decorations pop up throughout October and we wanted to check out all the festivities!
We didn’t think to get costumes this year and we weren’t planning to participate or anything, but people everywhere were so friendly and welcoming (some tried to be frightening, which is fair enough!) we ended up making some friends and getting invitations to come back next year. It was a lot of fun and a wonderful highlight of the week!
Also, I’m aware that I’ve been behind on visiting blogs and replying comments. I’ve been trying to catch up with all the things I fell behind on the last few weeks and I’m making some good progress! I’m anticipating some busy weeks ahead as we’re trying to hit a deadline, but I want to be more present here as well. I might end up cutting down on post frequency and book reviews but I’m really hoping I won’t have to, or if I do, that it will only be temporary.
The Conqueror Challenge
I’m still behind on my progress with The Conqueror Challenge. I only did a little more than 15km out of my 20km/week goal. I do have nine more days to go and about 24km more to go, so hopefully I’ll be able to get that done.
We can set our own goals so I could technically push back the time frame if I need to, but I really want to try to hit it if I can. I had a bad run (pun intended) these last three weeks, but I did account for bad days when I set the goal.
Nine days is only a little more than a week, and I’ve only been doing 15-20km a week. 24km a week would be pushing it, but hey, that’s why it’s a challenge. I’m going to give it a final push this week, because I’m also really excited about completing the goal and getting the medal! And also starting a new challenge immediately after!
All the happy things:
I had the best time on Halloween night!
Shared some hot cocoa with my husband late one night and had a wonderful time just talking.
We had our in-person bookclub meeting this morning! And we had a new person join us today!
My bookclub friends and I went for lunch after the meeting and continued the chat and fun. Bookish friends are the best!
I am almost 80% done with my first The Conqueror Challenge!
We made some great strides in the project that I’m doing! Exciting things are coming soon!
The Books
Books I read last week:
The Unmaking of June Farrow by Adrienne Young – I really liked how different it was. It was really fast-paced as well, so I finished it quickly.
The Girl from the Other Side Vol. 11 by Nagabe – This is the final book in the series and I’m a little disappointed with how it ended, but I enjoyed the experience of reading it.
Super Powereds: Year 3 by Drew Hayes – More fun with bad writing! This time it was all the blondes that stood out; the author kept referring to some of the characters as “their blonde friend”, “their blonde classmate”, “their blonde opponent”, etc. There were other hair colors too, but it was the blondes who stood out. I am still having so much fun with the series!
Book(s) I’m reading:
Super Powereds: Year 4 by Drew Hayes – I cannot wait to dive into more of the story!
Dear Enemy by Jean Webster – This is the sequel to Daddy-Long-Legs and I have read it before but not as many times as Daddy-Long-Legs so I’m refreshing my memory.
Super Powereds: Year 4 is a 60-hour audiobook so it’s probably going to take up the chunk of this week, but I might intersperse it with other shorter books in between.
How was your week? I hope you had a great week last week, and I hope you have a great one again this week!
Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly bookish meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl that features a different bookish topic every week.
Today’s topic is Halloween Freebie
I decided to go with vampire stories for today’s topic because there’s been so many vampire stories I’ve loved. Except Twilight, I did not like Twilight so I didn’t include it, but I do recognize its popularity. I’ve listed some of my favorite vampire books here although I haven’t read the last three. They feel familiar to me because I’ve watched the movies and there are so many pop culture references to them. In any case, I could do with a reread for almost all of these books!
Top Ten Books About Vampires
Sunshine by Robin McKinley – This is one of my all-time favorite vampire books, and an author I love in general. It has been a long while since I read this, so definitely time for a reread!
‘Salem’s Lot by Stephen King – I have such fond memories of listening to this on audio during a thunderstorm while being home alone. I spoiled the atmosphere a little by turning on every single light in the house, but I was still very creeped out by it. I loved the experience so much!
The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black – Another favorite! And another favorite author! I thought this book was a very interesting take on vampires and a very different vampire story.
Thirst series by Christopher Pike – My first vampire love. The first of the series came out more than two decades ago and I loved it as a teenager. It’s a bit dated but you never forget your first love.
Vampire Academy series by Richelle Mead – I devoured the series! I read it more than a decade ago but I remember loving them so much at the time.
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova – I remember really enjoying the story although missing a lot of the details, especially because of POV and timeline switches, but I do intend to read this again eventually.
The Utterly Uninteresting and Unadventurous Tales of Fred, the Vampire Accountant by Drew Hayes – I thought this was such a fun read and intended to read the rest of the series but never got to them for some reason. Now that I’m reading Super Powereds by the same author and loving it, I’m definitely planning to come back to this one.
Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist – I thought I read this but I might be wrong. I’m quite certain I watched both the movies though! I think? I remember being immersed in this story and yet I’m doubting myself now.
Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice – I definitely watched the movie! I might have read the book but I don’t remember, so it’s time to (re)read it either way!
Dracula by Bram Stoker – I know I didn’t read this one but I’ve been meaning to for ages! The last time I tried, I did a stupid thing and listened to it to go to sleep, and I was very rudely awakened by a screaming evil voice that scared me so much I couldn’t go back to sleep!
Have you read any of these books? What did you think of them? Would you read any of these books?
Welcome to the Sunday Post, a weekly meme hosted by Kimberly @ Caffeinated Reviewer to share weekly news and updates on what we’ve been up to on our blog, with our books, and book-related happenings.
Under the Weather
I came down with a cold the first half of last week and was pretty much tired the whole of the week. I was quite miserable, not just because of the cold, but also because I was already behind with work since the week before and I’d intended to catch up last week but only got further behind. I didn’t even do the Top Ten Tuesday for the week, and I haven’t caught up to replying comments either. 😭
As for The Conqueror Challenge, I didn’t do well since I was sick, but I did push a little more towards the end of the week and got 18km out of my 20km goal. I should mention that 6km of it was only done this morning.
Really hoping for a better, healthier, and more productive week coming up!
The Books
Books I read last week:
Super Powereds: Year 1 by Drew Hayes – I’m enjoying this series so much even though I mentioned earlier that the writing is quite amateurish. The story and the characters are really good though!
Super Powereds: Year 2 by Drew Hayes – The first book was 26 hours, this one was 32 hours and just as entertaining. I just finished it last night!
Pet Sematary by Stephen King – This is both a buddy read on my online bookclub, and the BOTM for my in-person bookclub! It’s harrowing, horrifying, and soooo good!
Book(s) I’m reading:
Super Powereds: Year 3 by Drew Hayes – A whopping 41 hours on audio! I just started it this morning.
The Unmaking of June Farrow by Adrienne Young – It’s been on my TBR and it’s also a buddy read. I’m only on Chapter 4 right now.
Welcome to the Sunday Post, a weekly meme hosted by Kimberly @ Caffeinated Reviewer to share weekly news and updates on what we’ve been up to on our blog, with our books, and book-related happenings.
Ups and Downs
Last week started off with news that one of our friends had a heart attack and was in the hospital. He’s a very dear and beloved friend and we were very worried when we got the news, but he was in great spirits when we visited him at the hospital and it put our minds at ease. He’s already had tests done and he’s well enough to be discharged back home, which is great! We will be visiting him again this weekend.
Last weekend was also the Canada Thanksgiving long weekend, and my birthday was on Monday. We got my favorite Sichuan food to celebrate and I meant to take pictures but I was a glutton and ate before I remembered!
The highlight of my week was meeting with Susan from The Cue Card this morning. I was so excited when I realized she lives relatively close to me, and I think this is the first time I’ve ever met a fellow blogger in real life. The most wonderful thing about it is that you’ve got lots to talk about because you’re both into books and reading! We had so much fun talking and we found out that we had a lot in common.
My husband and I also hung out later and had a late lunch after his work. We shared and had a little of both dishes because we wanted to try each other’s orders and they were both great! And I did manage to take pictures this time before I gobbled it all down!
The Conqueror Challenge
I didn’t do as well on The Conqueror Challenge last week compared to the week before. My goal is to get at least 20km per week, but I only got 15km last week. Hopefully I’ll make up for it this week.
It has been a tiring week but more emotionally and mentally than for an actual physical reason. It did translate over to me feeling physically tired though and not only did I not run as much as I wanted, I had to reschedule some plans I initially made because I didn’t have the energy for them. I didn’t even manage to work as much on my project as I had hoped.
I’m going to try to make up for everything else that got put off last week, not just the running, but I still don’t feel at my best yet, so I’m not sure if I’m going to end up taking some extra time this week also.
It’s hard not to feel pressured and guilty about not getting things done, but if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that it is important to put your own mental and emotional health first (also physical health!).
All the happy things:
So much good food! All the yummy stuff!
Meeting a fellow book blogger! I loved meeting with Susan, and I hope we’ll see each other again soon!
So grateful that our friend is doing well and recovering at home now.
So grateful that I am one year older and wiser.
The Books
Books I read last week:
Exhalation by Ted Chiang – Wow, these stories really made me think. I enjoyed some stories more than others, but I think they were all really good.
The Shining by Stephen King – This is a reread and a buddy read. The last time I read it was more than a decade ago so there’s a lot I don’t remember, but I loved reading it again and I feel like I’m appreciating it more now.
The Girl from the Other Side Vol. 10 by Nagabe – It’s starting to get more and more confusing, and I’m starting to get annoyed by the inconsistencies, but there’s only a couple of volumes left so I feel like I should just see it through.
Book(s) I’m reading:
Super Powereds: Year 1 by Drew Hayes – I’m surprised by how much I’m enjoying this book! The writing isn’t very good, tbh, but the story is really good and I’m just very pulled in by the whole thing. Also I’m listening to it on audio, and the narrator’s voices are adding to the experience for me!
Never Whistle At Night edited by Shane Hawk – I’m 20% in and while I really enjoyed the stories so far, I’m debating if I want to finish the book. I expected more focus on folklore, but the folklore connection is quite thin on some of the stories, and they’re all very dark and gruesome. Maybe it’s just that I’m feeling low right now so I don’t feel up to finishing the book, but we’ll see.
I’ve got a couple of reviews to catch up on, and I’m planning to read Pet Sematary this week for my irl bookclub, plus it’s also a buddy read for my online bookclub. Two birds! So efficient!
How was your week? I hope you had a great week last week, and I hope you have a great one again this week!
Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly bookish meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl that features a different bookish topic every week.
Today’s topic is Books I Was Assigned to Read in School
I grew up in Malaysia and our schools didn’t have assigned reading so I’m just going to adapt this topic for books that are set in schools. There are a lot of great books set in schools but I suddenly can’t think of them now that I’m trying to make a list out of them!
Top Ten Books Set in Schools
Daddy-Long-Legs by Jean Webster – I’m sure I’ve talked so much about this book that everyone is tired of hearing about it, but it’s set in a boarding school so I had to have it on the list.
Heartstopper by Alice Oseman – I love Charlie and Nick and I would die for them! I love how heartwarming the whole series is!
Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros – My guilty pleasure! I recognize the tropes and cheese but I still love it.
To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han – I loved this one. Lara Jean and her family are so cute and fun to read about.
My Oxford Year by Julia Whelan – Julia Whelan is one of my favorite audiobook narrators but she also writes books and this one is set in an educational institution. This one was so heartwarming and I loved it!
The Sweet Valley High series by Francine Pascal – I devoured this series as a child and have very fond memories of reading SVH from morning to night during my school holidays!
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins – It took me too long to pick this up because I loved The Hunger Games and wasn’t convinced I needed a story from Snow’s POV. It turned out to be brilliant though!
Matilda by Roald Dahl – I love Matilda! I was Matilda! Minus the magical powers and the over-the-top abuse from her family, and I didn’t have a Miss Honey, and I’m not half as smart as Matilda… I guess I’m not very Matilda except that I love reading. That counts, right?
Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson – This one hurts but it’s such a powerful book and I loved it.
A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik – I loved the idea of this series, and the first book wasn’t bad, but the books got progressively worse for me and I ended up really disappointed in the end.
Have you read any of these books? What did you think of them? Would you read any of these books?
Welcome to the Sunday Post, a weekly meme hosted by Kimberly @ Caffeinated Reviewer to share weekly news and updates on what we’ve been up to on our blog, with our books, and book-related happenings.
Slow Progress Is Still Progress
I had another busy week last week and didn’t get a lot of reading done; I finished two books and that was it. I’ve been working on a project for a long time and it’s very close to being done, hopefully in the next 2-3 months, so I’m trying to push as much as I can. It has been slow going before due to a lot of unforeseen issues that cropped up, but as long as nothing else unexpected happens, I feel like we’re good and we’ll finish strong!
The Conqueror Challenge
I did pretty good on The Conqueror Challenge last week but I ended up hurting my knee on Thursday in the second km and walked the rest of the way home. I was also going to try walking 8km this morning but I got tired and only did 5.7km.
I’m still ahead of my goal, so there’s that, even though I’m walking some of the time instead of running, and I did get in almost 20km this week. I find myself trying to hit certain milestones in order to get the virtual rewards offered in the app, and they are fun, but I really want that physical medal as the ultimate reward!
There’s still a long way to go but I’m already excited about the prospect of finishing this challenge and getting that medal. And then I’m anticipating the next challenges and the next medals! This thing is seriously addicting and I don’t know yet if that’s a good or bad thing! 😂
All the happy things:
It’s my birthday on Monday and we’re getting my favorite Sichuan food to celebrate!!
I also got myself a one-year subscription to Audible as a birthday present to myself!
And I got it at a discount!
I made some yummy chicken wings in the air-fryer and they were so good!
Feeling very optimistic about finishing my work project soon. 🤞
Really enjoying my online bookclub, not just for the buddy reads and book discussions, but the chats and jokes as well. ❤️
Despite my setback hurting my knee, I’m very happy with The Conqueror Challenge keeping me motivated to walk/run now that the weather is getting cooler.
I’m really enjoying seeing the Halloween decorations popping up bit by bit around my neighborhood. 👻
The Books
Books I read last week:
Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler – It was a good book with a good story but it turned out a little preachy and I didn’t like that.
The Mother-In-Law by Sally Hepworth – It wasn’t the best mystery but I really enjoy the way the author writes about familial relationships, and especially something as complicated as the relationship between mother- and daughter-in-law.
Book(s) I’m reading:
Exhalation by Ted Chiang – There are 9 short stories. I finished 6 and have 3 more to go. It’s all been very thought-provoking so far.
The Shining by Stephen King – It’s a reread and a buddy read. I’m at 20% so far and loving it.
Super Powereds: Year 1 by Drew Hayes – I started this audiobook because I listen to audiobooks to fall asleep and I needed something not scary (ie. not The Shining!). It’s actually pretty good so far!
I’m anticipating another busy week (plus it’s my birthday!) so I’m not sure how much I’ll be able to read but I really, really want to get started on Never Whistle At Night if I can!
How was your week? I hope you had a great week last week, and I hope you have a great one again this week!
Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly bookish meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl that features a different bookish topic every week.
Today’s topic is Bookish Brags (or Confessions!)
I’m not sure that I have anything book-related worth bragging about, tbh, other than I love reading chonky books. So this week I’m just going to go with a list of chonky books I’ve read. These are the chonkiest books I’ve read and they are 800 pages and above. Some of these are my favorite of favorite books, but there are also many less chonky books I’ve loved more than others listed that are only here because they are chonky. Most of these are worth reading though!
Top Ten Chonky Books
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas – 1276 pages. This is one of my favorite books of all time. I’ve read it many times and loved its chonkiness every time because I never want it to end. It’s so intense and engrossing that I finish it very quickly despite its size, and then I want to reread it again!
Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell – 1037 pages. Another favorite I’ve read several times. I haven’t read it in a while though, because while I swooned over the romance as a child, I realize now as an adult that it was such a toxic relationship. I still think it’s a work of art as a historical novel though.
The Stand by Stephen King – 1152 pages. There are so many Stephen King chonkers I’ve read and loved; It, Under The Dome, 11/22/63, and many more, but I thought for the sake of this list I’d stick to one per author, otherwise this whole list would be saturated with Stephen King’s books!
A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin – 835 pages. Technically, every book in this series is a chonker, and this one is the smallest one compared to the others, but it’s the first one so it’s the one chosen to represent them all!
Swan Song by Robert McCammon – 956 pages. I don’t remember much about this book except that it was compared to Stephen King’s The Stand, and I rated it 4 stars. I’ve forgotten much about it though, and it’s only here because it’s a chonker I read.
I Know This Much Is True by Wally Lamb – 897 pages. Another book I don’t remember much of but I’m haunted by this one and another book by the author I’ve read. I remember loving them and having my heart broken, and I rated them both 5 stars but I can’t bring myself to reread them just yet because I’m not sure I want to get my heart broken like that again. I need a little more time to heal! I also really want to read his other books, but same reason for why I haven’t yet.
Kushiel’s Dart by Jacqueline Carey – 1040 pages. It was hard to get into at first, but it got really good later. Not sure that I like it enough to continue the series though. It’s a relatively recent read so I haven’t decided what I want to do with it.
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens – 882 pages. Another relatively recent read that I loved! Especially because I had just finished Demon Copperhead not long before.
The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber – 922 pages. I actually love another book by this author – The Book of Strange New Things – more, but it was only 500 pages. I rated The Book of Strange New Things 5 stars, and this one only 3 stars, but this one is rated higher on Goodreads, so take what you will from that. I would highly recommend The Book of Strange New Things though!
Have you read any of these books? What did you think of them? Would you read any of these books?
Welcome to the Sunday Post, a weekly meme hosted by Kimberly @ Caffeinated Reviewer to share weekly news and updates on what we’ve been up to on our blog, with our books, and book-related happenings.
Valar Morghulis
Well, this has been a busy week!
One of the biggest highlights of my week is that I signed up for The Conqueror Challenge! It’s a virtual running challenge (or any activity, really) with lots of fun virtual rewards, and a real medal you get in the mail when you complete the challenge, and they had challenges that corresponded to quests and adventures in The Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones, and other real and fictional places!
I hadn’t been doing as well with my running as I would’ve liked in the last few weeks, and as the weather gets colder, I’m afraid that I might lose motivation to go outside and run, so when I came across this challenge I thought that maybe it might help keep me motivated.
I was hesitant at first, but apparently one of my friends has finished two challenges with them and spoke highly of the experience, so that made me excited too and I ended up signing up for the Game of Thrones challenge!
So far it has worked very well, because I’ve walked and ran a total of 23.31km last week, 8.14km of them from just this morning! It makes me excited to get out more and get as many kms in as I can. It pushes me especially when I see how much more I have to go to reach the next checkpoints, but I’m also trying to pace myself because I don’t want to finish the challenge too quickly!
I’m just so delighted about this because it combines my new-found love of running with my existing love for Game of Thrones (and other stories)!
I’m also no longer apprehensive about when real winter comes (Winter is coming!) and probably not feeling like running at all. I have less motivation to run at home on a treadmill, but I think I’d be able to convince myself to get in some kms for the sake of moving forward in my GoT adventures!
Zoo We also went to the zoo last week. It’s been a couple of months since we last went and I’ve missed the animals. It’s also a great place to walk and get in my kms! You bet I counted them for my challenge!
The penguins were the star of the show this time around. One of them kept swimming up to us and checking us out. I wanted to pet it so badly, it was that close, but of course we weren’t supposed to so I didn’t.
Inside Out 2 One more thing I have to talk about; my husband and I finally watched Inside Out 2 last week, and that portrayal of Anxiety made me cry because of how accurate it feels like for me.
I have had many sleepless nights and anxiety attacks and although my husband has always been loving and patient with me even at my worst times, I don’t think he’s ever understood what it felt like, and I love that the show was able to show him in a way that I was never able to articulate.
It’s been so much better for me recently; Anxiety has taken a back seat and Joy is leading the way a lot more, but it was just so cathartic to watch this show and feel so seen and realize I’m not alone. I love the first movie, and I love this one too!
All the happy things:
So very happy about my virtual running challenge!
And about my renewed motivation for running/walking in order to get the kms!
And about the fact that I got in 23km this week!
I even got my fastest pace at 8min/km! I’m usually at about 10min/km. Of course, I was exhausted after, and I don’t think I want to kill myself like that again for a while, but I was still very happy about it.
The zoo visit made me very happy too, especially since we haven’t gone in a while, and we’re not sure when we’ll be going again.
It’s a new month so we got KFC last week! We only get KFC once a month as a treat, and it’s such a happy treat!
I baked a new batch of cookies!
I’m starting a new crochet project with some gorgeous yarn and I can’t wait to see how it turns out!
The Books
Books I read last week:
The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer – It didn’t live up to expectations but it wasn’t bad. It’s categorized as adult fiction but it feels like it might be better suited for middle grade.
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers – This is a reread and a buddy read. It’s been a while since I read it the first time so I didn’t remember much of the details except that I loved it and I thought it was such a great example of interpersonal connections and acceptance of other cultures and beliefs. Reading it a second time made me love it more!
The Girl from the Other Side Volume 9 by Nagabe – It ended on a cliffhanger that’s making me very anxious to find out what happens next! Most of the other volumes end on cliffhangers too, but this one makes me wonder how it’s going to move forward.
I Fell In Love With Hope by Lancali – DNF. I’d been trying to read this book for weeks and I just couldn’t get into it. I finally realized that it’s just too purple prose-y for me. Too much style and not much substance. The writing is beautiful and it might’ve been good if done in poetry maybe, but as a story it’s a struggle to read.
Book(s) I’m reading:
Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler – I am 70% in and I am loving it! It’s my first Octavia Butler book and I’ve heard so much praise for this book but I’ve never known what it’s about. Now I am totally invested!
Last Week on The Blog
I didn’t do very much on the blog last week. I’ve got some book reviews to catch up on!
I gotta get on the book reviews because I don’t want them to pile up on me. I’m also going to try to get a start on Never Whistle at Night, and/or The Glass Chateau.
How was your week? I hope you had a great week last week, and I hope you have a great one again this week!
Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly bookish meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl that features a different bookish topic every week.
Today’s topic is Books I Read/Avoided Because of the Hype
I don’t usually avoid books because of hype; I am much more likely to get taken in by the hype because I am very easily influenced and I have BIG FOMO. Even if I don’t think I’ll like the book, sometimes I read it just because I need to see for myself, and maybe give it the benefit of the doubt. The ones listed below are just some of the ones I can think of. I didn’t like them all, but I did read them because of the hype.
Top Ten Hyped Up Books I Read
The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins – This is the latest one I finished, and I am torn. On the one hand it was very well-written and plotted; on the other hand, I feel like the message at the ending ruined the whole thing for me. In terms of the hype, it’s true that this book is very different and definitely entertaining, but I’m not sure if I can get behind it.
Emily Wilde’s Encyclopedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett – Honestly, with or without the hype, I would’ve read this because “Encyclopedia of Faeries” just calls to me. I enjoyed this book very much, but I’m just a tiny bit disappointed it wasn’t an actual encyclopedia of faeries.
Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt – This wasn’t a bad book but I don’t think it was worth the hype, and I think the octopus’ role in the story is a little misrepresented.
The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune – I loved this one. It was hyped up but I didn’t know what to expect going in and so I was pleasantly surprised.
Heartstopper by Alice Oseman – I feel like this one isn’t hyped up enough. I’ll be honest and say that I wasn’t very interested in this series at first because it’s about a bunch of teenagers and teenage love and I thought it would be a lot of high school drama. But I was so, very, very wrong. It is about teenagers and teenage love and high school drama, but it’s also about real life issues, and real love, and family and friendship. It’s so wholesome and heartwarming, and it’s the best thing that ever happened to me.
Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros – This is a guilty pleasure for me. Do I think it’s the best book ever written? Definitely not, there are so many problems with it. Do I love it anyway? Yes, very much! It’s that very bad, very unhealthy fast food that I love to gobble down!
All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries) by Martha Wells – It’s not about what happens in the books, it’s about who the book is about. I love Murderbot. I love getting to know it, reading its thought processes, seeing humans through its eyes. It’s just a wonderful character.
Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree – So worth the hype for me! I love stories about found families and I loved how cozy this book (and Bookshops & Bonedust) was. I love Viv and her friends. I would read a dozen books about her.
Verity by Colleen Hoover – Not worth the hype. I wish I had dnf’d it but I’m just too curious about the hype for my own good sometimes.
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green – I loved it when I read it, but it was a while ago and I don’t remember much of it now anymore. If I recall correctly though, I read this before it got even more hyped up (because of the movie?) and then it started getting cheesy because everyone was quoting it and getting “Okay” tattoos. Maybe I should reread because the memes have overtaken my actual memories of the book.
Have you read any of these books? What did you think of them? Would you read any of these books?
