Reading Wrap Up 18/07/18

So I finished up Tome Topple and I’m ok with my progress. I wish I could have completed Hero of Ages but it only took me a couple of extra days.

So I can’t believe that I’m actually finished with The First Mistborn series. I will admit to wanting to just get this finished so that I could read the second part of these books which seems more up my street. I enjoyed the last book way more than the second but I’m really disappointed in the ending. I just think that some of the characters deserved more. I liked getting to know more about the Kandra and Inquisitors but I think that leaving all that until the last book was unnecessary. I really liked the perspectives much more in this book. Such a better mix. I can’t say that I recommend this series to everyone. I think ti was a labour of love for me because I like Brandon Sanderson. There’s just so much more to explore in this world and I’m really looking forward to getting to The Alloy of Law

And just to give myself a bit of a break I picked up Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck which is pretty close to my favourite classics of all time. This is such a short book but I constantly just want to pick it up and read it. I just feel really emotionally involved in the story. i first picked up this book as part of school studies and I never was a cool kid at school so I admit to enjoying this. It wasn’t until a couple of years later that I really grew to love this book. I think some people will probably comment on the language ad prejudice but it was in the 30s around the Great Depression and was about writing a true reflection of society.

So I am currently reading Tess of the D’Urbervilles by Tom Hardy and I’m struggling through it. I thought I would like this but it is way more whimsical that I thought it would be.

I have also finally got Bright We Burn by Keirsten White and just like the other books it’s quite slow and we are moving around perspectives quite a bit. Also it’s way shorter than I expected it to be. Does anyone else worry when the last book of a series is the smallest?

So there’s another week of ramblings. Hopefully I will have finished something for next week.

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Reading Wrap Up 10/07/18

So I’m nearing the end of Tome Topple and I know that I won’t get another book in which actually demotivates me and makes me want to just pick up a non-tome but I refuse to do that.

So I finally finished Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte and I feel so accomplished. I read it as part of the Bronte Book club and I am amazed that I have read everything that has been set for the year. However, I am not reading the book set for July and August because poems are just not my thing and I didn’t like Wuthering Heights. It doesn’t mean I will not be reading classics. I actually have a full stack that I’m really looking forward to. Once Tome Topple finishes I’ll be picking up Far From the Madding Crowd by Tom Hardy.

I am also 200+ pages into The Hero of Ages and while I am enjoying more than The Well of Ascension it’s still a bit slow. The problem I have with reading on my kindle is that I could just start something else. So that’s what I did. I reread ACOMAF….

I’m a bad Tome Toppler (I think I have met 4 out of 5 challenges though). It very much fits in and to the challenges but it’s a reread. I did demolish it in 3 days which was insane – I love it and I know it’s flawed but I don’t care. So I know I’m not going to finish Mistborn 3 and I am telling myself that I cannot read any other books I want until it’s done even after Tome Topple.

I still want to be the type of person that just marathons a series and while I’m getting better at it I’m still not there yet. I did try and inspire myself by setting up the TBR to egt to next but I end up spiraling because I just remember all of the  series I haven’t finished yet and need to read.

So that’s my ramblings. Are any of you  taking part in Tome Topple and, if so, how is it going

Top 5 Summer Reads

So I have enjoyed doing Top 5’s and Top 10’s but I haven’t been really enjoying the topics. But I came across Bionic Bookworm and I really liked the topics.

So here are my Top 5 Summer Reads

The Hating Game by Sally Thorne

So I ready this thinking that I wouldn’t really enjoy it but wanted to give it a go. I was wrong. I wokoe up in the morning sat on my couch. 5 hours later I was done. I loved this book. I couldn’t stop thinking about it and even now I just want to keep rereading it. It is so far out of my comfort zone but it’s a really good summer contemporary. I can’t wait for anything else she brings out.

Undead Girl Gang by Lily Anderson

Another book that I kept hearing and the hype was just driving me away from it. I actually went to goodreads and read the blurb which then really appealed to me. I really enjoyed this and even though it’s a little bit spooky I think it’s still a good summer contemporary with a bit of a twist.

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

This is just a classic summer time book for me. I recently reread it and I think I liked it more than the first time around. This is a really popular book so if you haven’t read it then I recommend it but if you have then maybe try a reread?

Wolf by Wolf by Ryan Graudin

This one seems a bit weird but it feels like an adventure and maybe not the typical summer read but yeah I liked this. Also it’s a duology and I think they’re perfect for summer because if you wanted you could just continue on to Blood for Blood.

A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle

Why not spend a little bit of your summer trying a classics? This is super short and enjoyable and I think people should read the original Sherlock!

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I most recommend A Study in Scarlet but I don’t think classics are everyone’s thing but if you can please pick this up.

First Impression Friday – The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle

So I’ve seen this a couple of times and think it’s kind of interesting. The idea comes from JW Martin and the ‘rules’ are:

• Based on this sampling of your current read, give a few impressions and predict what you’ll think by the end.
• Did you think you’d love and ended up hating it? Or did you think you’d hate it and wound up loving it? Or were you exactly right?
• Link back to Storeys of Stories so I can enjoy reading all the First Impression Fridays out there!

So I picked up The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Tarton by accident. I actually came across it on my libraries audiobook and mistook it for The Seven Husband’s of Evelyn Hugo.

In my defense very similar names.

So I was reading this and totally didn’t see the plot that people had been talking about but it seemed like an interesting premise. When I figured out it was the wrong book I started to get into it more. It was interesting enough for me to continue with and was thinking it would maybe be 3 stars. If it surprised em 4. I normally don’t like that many mystery novels because I always figure them out.

So I totally got hooked on this book. The narrator was top notch – I was absolutely loving his voice and really loving how different the story was. I was constantly trying to figure out what was going on and who the murderer was.

I just fell in love with this book. It was such a challenging story to follow and so worth it. So I gave this 5 stars…. not only that it’s my favourite book of the year. I can’t believe my favourite book could have happened purely on accident.

I don’t know how I will ever forget this story. I am constantly thinking about it. And I don’t know if I can reread it because you’ll know the end but there’s just so much richness to it that I think I could read this and love it every time.

 

The blurb from Goodreads

How do you stop a murder that’s already happened?

At a gala party thrown by her parents, Evelyn Hardcastle will be killed–again. She’s been murdered hundreds of times, and each day, Aiden Bishop is too late to save her. Doomed to repeat the same day over and over, Aiden’s only escape is to solve Evelyn Hardcastle’s murder and conquer the shadows of an enemy he struggles to even comprehend–but nothing and no one are quite what they seem.

Top 5 Classics

So I have enjoyed doing Top 5’s and Top 10’s but I haven’t been really enjoying the topics. But I came across Bionic Bookworm and I really liked the topics.

So here are my Top 5 Classics

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

So this is probably my favourite of all time. I read this in school and I really really loved it. It wasn’t until I was out of school and reread it an extra couple of time that I realised that I loved this. I admit I haven’t read anything else by John Steinbeck and I really should have.

Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte

So I did not expect to like this after reading Wuthering Heights but I really loved this. It was such a lovely, sweet, quiet tale and it really gave me a good insight into Anne and the Victorian era. I liked seeing the governess perspective and what that meant.

The Sign of Four by Arthur Conan Doyle

I am really ashamed of myself for having put of the Sherlock Holmes novels because they’re amazing. I really thought that it would be too difficult for me. I think I’ve always had that opinion of classics and the more I read them the less I think that.

The Catcher in the Rye by J D Salinger

This is one of the book that both me and my boyfriend agree on and that’s saying something. I loved the rawness and honesty of Holden and him confronting adulthood. A lot of people apparently hate this book but I love it! I think people should really read this and maybe understand themselves a bit more through the lens of Holden.

The Stranger by Albert Camus

This is probably the most impact classic I’ve read. It has always stuck with me and really cause me to evaluate how I treat people and think about them and their actions. I struggled through this and cried my way through the end. At one point I threw it across the room because I didn’t want it to happen.

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Writing about my favourite classics is just making me want to reread them all!

What are some of your favourite classics?

ScallywagAThon Wrap Up

You can find the rules and more about the readathon here

So this ran from May 20th to 27th – love an 8 day readathon. Really works for me. I didn’t think I was going to do it but saw BooksAndLala’s video. I thought – oh well, I’ll look at my shelf and see what I can do. Luckily I was able to do this.

I started at 4 with a ‘Fictional world you want to explore’

I’ve been dying to get back to Discworld with Terry Pratchett and I’m so happy that I did. This is just an all round good book that I think is really a growing point for it. It felt to me like we were starting to explore what is possible on Discworld. We seen what ‘real magic’ is and the difference that has to Wizards. Anyone should pick up this series. I know it’s massive but it’s just individual stories to enjoy so please don’t be intimidated by that.

5 stars

I moved onto number 8 a ‘Book that starts with R’

So for anyone that doesn’t know I really enjoy the show Shetland and knowing there were books I decided to pick Raven Black by Ann Cleeves up. I have read a book from her before and did enjoy it. This was different and I don’t think it was as good. It’s still interesting and I enjoyed the story and the mystery but the characters felt a little flat for me. It was strange to be in so many heads but I suppose that helped with the mystery. I did love being in Shetland culture and it just reminds me of home.

3.5 stars

Next was A for a ‘Standalone’

I decided to pick up History is all you left me by Adam Silvera. I have now read all his published works. And he frustrates me. There’s like no consistency with him for me. I don’t know if I like or don’t like this book. I think I’ve just become indifferent and I think that can be worse. I want to do a full discussion on Adam Silvera because I don’t think there’s an author out there that I have this amount of trouble with.

3 stars

Lastly we have number 9 with a ‘Female Author’

I had been reading Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte so I have included it. Classics are such a challenge to read and I really hated this book. Emily’s poetic writing is just not for me. I really cannot connect with this book or this story line. It just feels so stupid and ridiculous and completely unauthentic. I went to watch why others like this and  understand it but I don’t really fully agree with it.

1 star

So this was such a mixed readathon for me in terms of rating and in terms of genres and age range. I really like this readathon for allowing that mix.

Series Review – Zeroes by Scott Westerfeld et al

So I started reading this series when the first book came out because I had read Uglies but didn’t really like it then I read Afterworlds and loved it! I can’t believe that I actually picked this up in 2015! So I decided to pick this up and what I’ve noticed is that it’s a series that no one really talks about. I’m not saying its the best series out there but it’s really quite unique.

Before I go into anything else I would definitely say that any fan’s of Brandon Sanderson’s Reckoners series really should pick this up. It has the spin on ‘superheroes’ thing and I think they’re good comparators.

So Zeroes is about this group of teenagers born in the year 2000 that have developed ‘super powers’ but they’re not like traditional powers. I think that they’re more a twist on people’s personality and the power amplifies one element of someones character.

So we are basically following a group while they’re trying to figure these out without getting themselves caught and with each book this sort of amplifies as more and more people get in the way or cause problems.

It’s told from 6 perspectives and that’s definitely the strength of these novels. I really loved getting into each of these heads and hearing their thoughts and about how things affect them. The group really don’t feel like they would have been friends with each other if they didn’t have their powers so it’s quite an interesting dynamic.

There are some characters that you will really bond with and some you’ll instantly hate but grow to dislike. What I found interesting is that I had a character that I liked well enough to begin with but then with each book and each passing chapter I realised that I despise them. They’re so selfish and manipulative and argh!!!

The jump between each book felt really disjointed to me. With each book it took me  long time to get into them. However, I did enjoy them when I got there. The plot was pretty thin at points. Like there was one thing and it took forever to find out what it was really about and that let it down a bit.

This book is more for people that like friendship group dynamics and working together and as a team. It’s about overcoming obstacles together and growing with each other.

We do tend to stay in pretty much one but expanding to two locations throughout the series. I would have liked to maybe have seen other parts of the world because it does make it out like it’s a world wide phenomenon rather than just the US.

I honestly do think this series should get a bit more recognition than it does and I do recommend picking it up especially because the full series is now out. I think it would have been easier for me to have marathoned these because you do kind of lose touch over time.

I would give this whole series 4 stars.

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I will say that reading a question on GoodReads about how many books are these one of the authors did say ‘3, so far…’ What I will say if that this does feel like a full 3 book series but I can see maybe how a side series or a companion series could be developed in this world.

p.s. the UK covers are MUCH prettier than the US covers.