Category: Weekly Book Memes

Sunday Post | Moving On Up

Posted October 5, 2024 by Haze in Sunday Post, Weekly Book Memes / 15 Comments

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:

  1. So very happy about my virtual running challenge!
  2. And about my renewed motivation for running/walking in order to get the kms!
  3. And about the fact that I got in 23km this week!
  4. 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.
  5. 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.
  6. 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!
  7. I baked a new batch of cookies!
  8. 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:

  1. 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.
  2. 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!
  3. 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.
  4. 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:

  1. 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!

This Week

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!

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Top Ten Tuesday | Hyped Up Books I Read

Posted September 30, 2024 by Haze in Top Ten Tuesday, Weekly Book Memes / 38 Comments

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

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. 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.
  6. 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!
  7. 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.
  8. 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.
  9. 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.
  10. 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?

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Sunday Post | Whelmed

Posted September 28, 2024 by Haze in Sunday Post, Weekly Book Memes / 13 Comments

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. 

Not Overwhelmed

I looked up the word “whelmed” just to make sure it meant what I thought it meant, and it doesn’t, but that’s fine because I’m actually quite whelmed. Not overwhelmed, but I am whelmed.

I have been tired most of last week and I thought I’d have some time to rest this weekend but today turned out quite eventful too – my irl bookclub had our meetup this morning, and then we went to grab lunch together so I got home hours later than I thought I would. But I had fun and I love hanging out with my bookclub so I’m not complaining!

Trying to keep this post short though, because I’m still whelmed and all I want to do is lie down on the couch and doom-scroll on my phone.

All the happy things:

  1. We had someone new join us for our book club meetup today!
  2. And then we all went for lunch after!
  3. One of my friends treated me to lunch. It was delicious and I’m so appreciative of wonderful people like her.
  4. Went for my regular checkup and the doctor says everything looks great!
  5. I leveled up in my Discord bookclub! It’s a role thing and gets you additional benefits in the server.
  6. I’m also getting points for the buddy reads I signed up for, which gets you additional benefits when you level up as well. It’s a lot of fun!

The Books

Books I read last week:

  1. Perfume by Patrick Süskind – It’s my irl bookclub BOTM and everybody finished it and enjoyed it! Even the newcomer! It’s weird but good, and I really enjoyed listening to it on audiobook.
  2. The Rom-Commers by Katherine Center – I’ve been enjoying Katherine Center’s books very much and I really liked this one too! It got me quite emotional, especially near the end.
  3. Expiration Dates by Rebecca Serle – I really like the premise of this book, and Julia Whelan narrates it so of course I was going to read it! The execution wasn’t as good as I hoped, but I still enjoyed reading it.
  4. Daddy-Long-Legs by Jean Webster – I just reread this book last month and here I am rereading it again! This time it was for a buddy read that I instigated, so I felt obliged to read it with everyone else, but it’s not like it was difficult for me to love it all over again! 😂
  5. The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins – This book is very well-written but I’m not sure how I feel about it. I loved almost everything about it but I’m struggling with the message. If you’ve read the book, I’d love to know what you think.

Book(s) I’m reading:

  1. The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer – Currently on page 87 of 278. I like it so far! I’ve heard lots about it and I’ve been curious for a while so I hope it lives up to expectations.

Last Week on The Blog

This Week

I haven’t read very many books from my buddy reads TBR list last week because I needed some fun and light romance. I’m ready to jump back into them this week!

How was your week? I hope you had a great week last week, and I hope you have a great one again this week!

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Top Ten Tuesday | Books on My Fall 2024 TBR

Posted September 23, 2024 by Haze in Top Ten Tuesday, Weekly Book Memes / 44 Comments

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 on My Fall 2024 To-Read List

Some of these books have been on my list since the beginning of the year. Heck, some of them have been on my list since last year… and way before. It distresses me that I haven’t read them, the older ones in particular. I’m going to really try to get them done this fall!

Top Ten Books on My Fall 2024 TBR

  1. The Glass Chateau by Stephen P. Kiernan – This is the one I most want to prioritize. I’ve had it on my TBR the moment it was announced, before it was even published, and I was so excited when it was released. I love the author and I have no doubt I’ll love this book, but I just haven’t gotten around to it for some reason.
  2. The Storm We Made by Vanessa Chan – Malaysian author, Malaysian setting, Malaysian reader (me!). I must read it!
  3. Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson – I have been wanting to read this for a while now. You know it caught my attention with a title like that.
  4. Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman – Everyone keeps recommending this as one of the best series you can listen to on audiobook, but I’m hesitating because I listened to a sample and I’m not sure I like the narration, so I’m waffling between getting it on print vs. audiobook. So many people can’t be wrong about the audio, right? But what if they are?!
  5. Never Whistle At Night by various authors – This is relatively new to my TBR but I really want to read it because I wanted to read more diverse books this year, and I love folklore and not whistling at night is also a superstition in my own culture.
  6. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot – A much older book that I’ve been wanting to read for a long time. Part of why I also signed up for a nonfiction reading challenge this year.
  7. Between Us by Mhairi McFarlane – I love the author’s works, but I don’t consider them light-hearted romance because they often have heavier themes and not so traditional HEAs, so I do need to be in a certain mindset to read them.
  8. The Keeper of Hidden Books by Madeline Martin – Another author I love, but much, much heavier stories. I read two of them very close to each other earlier this year, and I needed a break before I jump back into another one.
  9. The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer – I don’t even remember how I heard about this book but I was so excited about it, and it’s also a bookish book!
  10. The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins – Another bookish book I’ve been wanting to read. The things people say about it make me very curious!

Have you read any of these books? What did you think of them? Would you read any of these books?

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Sunday Post | Four Eyes

Posted September 21, 2024 by Haze in Sunday Post, Weekly Book Memes / 24 Comments

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. 

I Got Glasses

I got my first prescription glasses last week! I’m so happy and I’ve been wearing them almost non-stop to the point where my husband is scolding me for wearing them while lounging in bed because he doesn’t want me to break them.

To be clear, these aren’t my first glasses, only my first prescription glasses. I had “vanity glasses” as a child because I wanted to look smart and studious and my dream job was to be a librarian. Yes, I wore glasses I didn’t need out of vanity, and I’m only telling y’all here because I feel like if anyone would get me, it’s other bookworms. 😂 Also, I get that the whole librarian wearing glasses thing might be a little stereotypical but I was 10 and I loved reading! 🤷‍♀️

It’s also nice to be able to see things a little more clearly now!

I also ran 5k three times last week! Woot, progress! Well, sort of. I ran almost every day when it was 3k, and now that it’s 5k, I’m only running three times a week because it exhausts me and I need more recovery time, so there’s a give and take. I’m still slow, but at least I’m running slow a little further!

I’m looking forward to eventually running a marathon, like maybe after 10 more years of training! 🏃‍♀️‍➡️

All the happy things:

  1. I love my new glasses!
  2. Really proud about my progress with running even though there’s definitely some growing pains!
  3. My Hobonichi Cousin 2025 arrived! I know it’s still a few months to 2025, but I like knowing it’s there ready for me and I also have some things already scheduled for 2025 that I can now fill in.
  4. We had more soup! Spicy Sichuan soup this time!
  5. I crocheted a bag out of scrap yarn and it’s ugly as heck but I love it! (I haven’t woven in the ends yet.)
  6. The cooler weather means I can crochet more now! It’s no fun crocheting in the heat with all that yarn on my lap, but it’s so cozy when it’s cooler.

The Books

Books I read last week:

  1. Goddess of the Hunt by Tessa Dare – Book 1 of the Wanton Dairymaid Trilogy. I love Tessa Dare but I felt like this one had a little more cheese than her other books I loved. Still fun and enjoyable, and I needed light-hearted books.
  2. Surrender of A Siren by Tessa Dare – Book 2 of the Wanton Dairymaid Trilogy. Also kinda cheesy, but sometimes you need a little cheese.
  3. One Dark Window by Rachel Gillig – It was very much a disappointment. The writing was quite messy and unclear. The characters were unlikeable and inconsistent and I couldn’t understand their motivations. The magical concept was interesting though, and I’m still very intrigued by the plot, but the good isn’t good enough to outweigh the flaws, and it was a struggle to get through it. I only did because it was a buddy read.
  4. Cujo by Stephen King – This is a reread but it’s been so long since I first read it that it might as well be a new read. As always, Stephen King is the King of Storytelling. There’s so much more to Cujo than just a scary, rabid dog story, and it’s such an incredibly look into the thoughts and behaviors of flawed human beings.

Book(s) I’m reading:

  1. Perfume by Patrick Süskind – It’s my irl bookclub’s BOTM for September and the meeting is this weekend. I’m about 30% in and it’s just so beautifully written. It’s a reread for me but it’s been a long while.
  2. I Fell In Love With Hope by Lancali – Just started and already I’m scared. It sounds like a sad and heavy read, and I’ve been warned to keep a lot of tissues on hand for the inevitable tears.

Last Week on The Blog

This Week

Feeling a little burnt out with reading so many sad and heavy books over the last month and we haven’t even gotten to October spooky season yet. I’m going to try to get some more light-hearted reads in between the heavy stuff.

How was your week? I hope you had a great week last week, and I hope you have a great one again this week!

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Top Ten Tuesday | Redeemed Characters

Posted September 16, 2024 by Haze in Top Ten Tuesday, Weekly Book Memes / 20 Comments

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 Ten Characters Authors Surprisingly Redeemed (which characters did you not like at first, but grew to love by the end of the book?) 

Topics like this one are difficult because while I’ve definitely got a whole bunch of characters I didn’t like that I ended up liking, I can never think of them when I need them! But I did some digging and went through my books read and managed to come up with ten, whew!

Top Ten Redeemed Characters

  1. Glokta from The Blade Itself (and the whole The First Law Trilogy) – He’s a royally sanctioned torturer and inquisitor and does a lot of bad things. But he’s also a very interesting character and may be my favorite character in the series.
  2. Mary from The Secret Garden – She starts out really spoiled and contrary, which to be fair, isn’t really her fault, but becomes such a lovely person in the end.
  3. Colin from The Secret Garden – Another spoiled and annoying child who becomes a much nicer person.
  4. Ebenezer Scrooge from A Christmas Carol – He starts out so horrible and stingy that his name has become synonymous with stinginess.
  5. Jaime Lannister from A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire series) – There are several other characters who have redemption stories in this series, but I think Jaime’s arc is one of my favorites.
  6. Naomi from You Deserve Each Other – Naomi and Nicholas, listed below, are the MCs of this book and they are both insufferable at the beginning of the book to the point that you don’t know how you could enjoy the story at all. I was happily surprised to be wrong.
  7. Nicholas from You Deserve Each Other – See above.
  8. Linus from The House in the Cerulean Sea – Linus wasn’t evil or anything, just naive and maybe too much of a rule-follower, but sometimes the people who are “just doing their jobs” can cause a lot of harm. Glad to see things change.
  9. Cardan from The Cruel Prince (The Folk of the Air series) – He was such an insufferable bully. I hated him. Then I loved him.
  10. Boromir from The Lord of the Rings – Maybe one of the most well-known examples of redeemed characters? Or maybe it’s just because LOTR is one of the most well-known books! Either way.

Have you read any of these books? Did you like any of these characters? Who are your favorite redeemed characters?

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Sunday Post | Sweater Weather

Posted September 14, 2024 by Haze in Sunday Post, Weekly Book Memes / 14 Comments

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. 

It’s Cool, That’s What I Tell ‘Em

Last week was cooler and we’ve started getting out the sweaters! This week is going to be more of the same. I’m really looking forward to autumn!

On the running front; I only went a couple of times this past week, but in my defense, it was mostly because husband and I went on a hike on Sunday and my muscles were sore for a couple of days! I made up for it by doing extra yoga exercises later in the week though! We’re planning to hike again this weekend if we can.

Other than that, I’ve been mostly just moaning and groaning about my sore muscles while totally exploiting them as the reason I can’t do anything except sit around and read my books! Bonus: school has officially started so I have more time to laze about in secret while husband is at work. 😂

All the happy things:

  1. Now that the weather is cooler, we’ve been enjoying more delicious soups! I made hot and sour soup on Monday, and the husband made bak kut teh on Thursday.
  2. I love my husband very much, but I also really enjoy having the house all to myself more often now while he’s at work!
  3. I’m really happy about that hike, even with the sore muscles. I want to do more!
  4. The book community with all the buddy reads is making me really happy. I’ve been there for about a month now and getting to know the people there better. It’s been really fun and welcoming, and I’m also having such wonderful discussions about the books we read.

The Books

Books I read last week:

  1. The Girl from Rawblood by Catriona Ward – I love the vibes, but I hated the audiobook production! I’ve heard a lot about this author and wanted to try her books, but I think next time I’ll stick to a print copy.
  2. I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman – This was an unexpected favorite. It’s very speculative and I both love and hate the uncertainty. I feel it’s a great philosophical exploration though and it’s really giving me lots to think about.
  3. The Girl from the Other Side Volume 8 by Nagabe – Continuing with the series. I think this is one of my favorite volumes out of the ones I’ve read so far!
  4. Born A Crime by Trevor Noah – This was so good! I love Trevor Noah and now I think I love him more. I love the way he tells his stories; they are so eloquent, funny, and emotional all at once!

Book(s) I’m reading:

  1. Goddess of the Hunt by Tessa Dare – I needed something light and romantic for a palate cleanser. I feel like I’ve been reading a lot of heavy books recently. And now that it’s close to Halloween season, there are darker books to come!
  2. One Dark Window by Rachel Gillig – Apparently this book has been talked about a lot in social media spaces, but I haven’t heard of it before. I signed up for the buddy read blind and I’ve only just started reading.

Last Week on The Blog

This Week

I’m almost finished with Goddess of the Hunt, and then I’ll be able to focus on One Dark Window. I’ve got a lot of darker reads in the queue but I might end up reading a few romances in between just to lighten the mood.

How was your week? I hope you had a great week last week, and I hope you have a great one again this week!

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Top Ten Tuesday | Books That Provide a Much-Needed Escape

Posted September 9, 2024 by Haze in Top Ten Tuesday, Weekly Book Memes / 20 Comments

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 That Provide a Much-Needed Escape

I’ve chosen my favorite escapism books that I reread often; there are so many to choose from, of course, but I landed on these books because they also have themes of escape in the stories themselves; escape from imprisonment, from a life of servitude, from death, and so on.

Top Ten Books That Provide a Much-Needed Escape

  1. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas – Every time I read this book, I am immersed in another world for hours and hours because it’s such a thick book and so intense for all of it. Sometimes I start the audiobook, thinking I can listen to it as background noise since I’ve read it so often before, but nope. Once I start it, I am in it, and nothing else exists. Bonus: The actual escape scene in this book is so thrilling!
  2. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins – The whole trilogy is an escape for me. Despite the difficult themes, it’s a comfort read for me and going with Katniss on her journey makes me feel better about mine. There are plenty of escape scenes in the trilogy, and they’re all good.
  3. A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin – Again, it’s the whole series for me. I love some characters’ POVs more than others, but the whole story, the world, the political intrigue, the people, is all so engrossing. Too many escape scenes in the series to list, but also to be fair, many of them don’t escape.
  4. Red Rising by Pierce Brown – Another series that I love and get engrossed in. I just read the most recently released book this year, so I technically haven’t reread all the books, but it’s still such a great story to escape into. Some of the escape scenes in these books are so harrowing and incredibly satisfying!
  5. The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway – Some people say this book is boring, but it’s one of the most thrilling books I’ve read because I used to go fishing and I loved the thrill of having a fish on a hook and not knowing if you’ll be able to land it. I don’t want to spoil the ending, so all I’ll say is that there is definitely escapism for the MC here.
  6. The Light Bearer by Donna Gillespie – This is one of my favorite childhood books, and I escape into it almost every other year or so. It’s set in the ancient Roman empire in the time of Nero and Domitian, and I love how smart it is. There are so many different kinds of escape in this book; escape from actual imprisonment, escape from wrongful prosecution, escape from tricky situations, biding-your-time escapes, lucky escapes, etc.
  7. The Ghost Bride by Yangsze Choo – I’ve talked about this book before as one that most closely reminds me of my own culture and family history. It’s funny that that would be an escape for me, but the way the story goes, it’s cathartic because the MC goes against her family’s wishes and makes her own way, ie. she escapes what her family plans for her. There are also fantasy and folklore elements which makes the story really wonderful for me.
  8. Life of Pi by Yann Martel – It’s a fantastical story, but I love it. I love how it’s written, I love the philosophical examinations, I love the parts that are calm as well as the parts that are exciting. There is escape from death here, and escape from the harsh elements of nature, but there is also metaphorical escape, I think, if you read deeper into it.
  9. The Neverending Story by Michael Ende – This story provides escape like no other. Bastian literally escapes from some bullies with the help of this book. That happens in the beginning so it’s not a spoiler, but there are certainly more escapes happening throughout the book! This is one of my favorite books as a child and it did so much for my imagination.
  10. The Princess Bride by William Goldman – I mean, who doesn’t love this book? And the movie? They are both so great for escapism. So funny, and heartwarming, and just so perfectly perfect in every way. Plenty of escapes to read about too!

Have you read any of these books? What did you think of them? Would you read any of these books?

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Sunday Post | The Neverending Story

Posted September 7, 2024 by Haze in Sunday Post, Weekly Book Memes / 4 Comments

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. 

One Book Finished, Five New Books Added to the TBR

The Neverending TBR, amirite? Now it’s worse because last week I finished 3 buddy reads, and signed up for… I lost count, but it’s a lot more buddy reads. A lot. I’m told that it’s normal to get addicted because I’m new to the group and there are so many attractive buddy reads happening, but once I get my sea legs, I’ll probably slow down. 🤞

On the plus side, I’ve managed to finally finish a couple of books that have been on my TBR for ages because of the buddy reads! I also managed to work on a crochet WIP that had been untouched for weeks but finally finished since I’ve been spending more time listening to audiobooks.

All the happy things:

  1. I finally went and ordered my new glasses. I had been putting it off since April. They should be here in about two weeks.
  2. I also put in my Hobonichi order for next year. This was my first year using it and I love it so I’m sticking to it for next year too!
  3. We had KFC last week! We only get it once a month for health reasons, but it’s a treat every time!
  4. Still making those blueberry milkshakes and absolutely loving them!
  5. Husband and I are rewatching Chuck and really enjoying it!

The Books

Books I read last week:

  1. After I Do by Taylor Jenkins Reid – I love TJR and I think she’s a master at writing about relationships. This one is about marriage, and it’s narrated by Julia Whelan, so of course, I got on it!
  2. Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield – I had heard so much about this and had been wanting to read it for a while. It became a buddy read, so I suddenly had the motivation to finally read it.
  3. Dark Places by Gillian Flynn – I read this before and forgot. It became a buddy read and I got excited about it, so I signed up and really enjoyed it because I forgot how it ended too.
  4. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky – It’s been on my TBR for ages but I’ve always felt daunted by it. I finally read it, because it was a buddy read and because there’s a Will Poulter narration for the free audiobook on Audible. It wasn’t as daunting as I expected, but I did get easily confused with the names, especially since I was on audio.

Book(s) I’m reading:

  1. The Girl from Rawblood by Catriona Ward – I’ve heard a lot about Catriona Ward and got curious. This happened to also be buddy read so I thought why not try, but the reviews are quite polarizing so I’m not sure if I’ll end up finishing. I’m only about 15% in.

Last Week on The Blog

This Week

More buddy reads to get through;

  • Cujo by Stephen King
  • I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman
  • I Fell In Love With Hope by Lancali

I’ve got lots more and I’m enjoying the buddy reads in general, but I might give myself a break and maybe drop out of some of them. We’ll see!

How was your week? I hope you had a great week last week, and I hope you have a great one again this week!

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Top Ten Tuesday | Books Involving Food

Posted September 2, 2024 by Haze in Top Ten Tuesday, Weekly Book Memes / 21 Comments

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 Involving Food 

I love food! I love books! And I love books about food too! Today’s topic was really fun to curate, and I’m excited about reading, and rereading, many of these books below. What interesting books involving food did you come across for today’s topic? I’d love to know!

Top Ten Books Involving Food

  1. Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain – This was the first book that came to mind for today’s topic. I read the book a long time ago and remember loving it, but I didn’t make any notes and I don’t remember much about it anymore. Time for a reread maybe?
  2. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver – I love stories about self-sustainability and growing your own food even if I doubt I’d ever be able to do it myself. It’s inspiring to see other people do it!
  3. The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan – I took a few nutrition courses many years ago and these was one of the books we studied. I rated it 5 stars but I don’t remember much about it individually because I was reading so many other similar books for the course.
  4. Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser – This book was written more than 20 years ago, and I wonder if much has changed since then with our eating habits. There are a lot more healthy options out there now, which is very encouraging and convenient, but I believe to some extent, we are still a fast food nation.
  5. Julie & Julia by Julie Powell – I loved the movie with Amy Adams and Meryl Streep when it came out but I haven’t read the book. I love the idea of cooking through all the recipes in a cookbook as a challenge though.
  6. On Food and Cooking by Harold McGee – This was another book I bought for my nutrition course. I only read parts of it because they were assigned, but I found it fascinating and still mean to read through the rest of it.
  7. Shark’s Fin and Sichuan Pepper by Fuchsia Dunlop – I love Sichuan food and I’ve heard good things about Fuchsia Dunlop’s memoir. I want to read this sooner than later.
  8. Stir by Jessica Fechtor – This one sounds so compelling. The author had a brain aneurysm and nearly died and her journey to recovery involved relearning to cook. I’m curious to read it.
  9. Gulp by Mary Roach – Mary Roach has got lots of great popular science books I want to read. This one happens to be about food and our alimentary canal.
  10. Taste by Stanley Tucci – I love Stanley Tucci as an actor, and I know he’s also a foodie and a chef. He has his own cookbook and he also acted in Julie & Julia, by the way. I want to read about his life through food.

Have you read any of these books? What did you think of them? Would you read any of these books?

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