Tuesday 26 February 2013

Top Ten Books on Your Auto-Buy List

This is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and The Bookish in which they will post a topic and then participants will make their top ten according to the topic. Feel free to go to their site and join in. This week's topic is...


Top Ten Authors on Your Auto-Buy List*
February 26, 2013
  1. J.K. Rowling- She wrote Harry Potter, which is my favourite series of all time, so obviously I would read whatever she writes. 
  2. Maria V. Snyder- I enjoyed the Inside duology, and loved Poison Study, and all her other books sound amazing. Overall a very talented author.
  3. John Green- Though I have only read his short story in Let It Snow, I am incredibly excited to read his other books and will read anything he publishes. :)
  4. Scott Westerfeld- The Uglies series was amazing, and I'm excited to read his other books (except for maybe Leviathan...). If he publishes another book, I will definitely pick it up.
  5. Laurie Halse Anderson- Again, I have only read one book she's published (Wintergirls) but I think all her novels have very important messages and so I would read at some point whatever she publishes.
  6. Jackson Pearce- Her quality of writing is fantastic and she has really good novel ideas, so if she published another book I'd be sure to read it.
  7. Marie Lu- I know she's only written one series (Legend), but it was so good that if she published anything else I would definitely pick it up. 
  8. Rick Riordan- His books are great middle-grade novels, and I loved them when I was younger (and still like them now). I love mythology, so I am super excited for his norse mythology books, and whatever he publishes!
  9. Suzanne Collins- I loved The Hunger Games and Catching Fire (Mockingjay, not so much) and also read the first of her Underland series, which I would've liked a lot better when I was younger so I chose not to continue it. I can't wait if she publishes something else!
  10. Rachel Hawkins- So far I have only read Hex Hall, which was a really fun read, but I really love her writing style because it's concise with a really fun, snarky narrator. Demonglass is currently in my to-read pile, and I am looking forward to the spin-off series and Rebel Belle, as well as anything else she publishes!
*I don't usually buy books, so I interpreted this as books I would automatically read because of the author. :)

Comment and leave your top ten if you'd like! :) Thanks for reading. 

Monday 25 February 2013

Discussion (1): Dystopia or Non-Dystopia

I've decided to start a new post series. These will be called "discussions". Basically I will just talk about something related to books because I have been finding that there are several topics [about books] I would like to talk about. Please leave your thoughts on whatever I am talking about below. Also, often these discussions will be in the form of Thoughts for Thursday, a meme from Books as Wings, but this way I can also post my own topics and post when I want to. The first topic is "dystopia or non-dystopia".

I have often seen many people confuse post-apocalyptic fiction with dystopia, and it drives me crazy. I have even seen public websites with legal rights state that books such as "Life as We Knew It" by Susan Beth Pfeffer are dystopia, which (in my opinion) is a lie. I believe dystopia as a book genre to be a government corrupted to create a totalitarian or "bad" society. Books like "Angelfall" or "Life as We Knew It" speak of the end of our world, but not a government that has taken complete control such as The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins or Uglies by Scott Westerfeld.

However, all this poses the question: How do you determine if the book you are reading is dystopia or post-apocalyptic fiction? I think you have to look for a few elements. First of all, how far in the future is it? If it's far away, and things have evolved, it could be dystopia. Another indicator is that they mention previous society with another name, like "Rusties" (Uglies) or "Wreckers" (blood red road). Finally, look for a corrupted government-- This almost never fails. :)

To be honest, I, as a general statement, prefer dystopia over post-apocalyptic fiction because I love learning about all the different corrupt societies. That being said, there are a lot of awesome post-apocalyptic fiction books out there.

What are your thoughts?

Tuesday 19 February 2013

Top Ten Characters in Dystopia and Fairytale Retellings

This is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and The Bookish in which they will post a topic and then participants will make their top ten according to the topic. Feel free to go to their site and join in. This week's topic is...

Top Ten Characters in X Genre
February 19, 2013
*X genre = Half dystopia/half fairytale retellings to honour my book topic this month

Dystopia
  1. Katniss Everdeen: I bet anyone doing dystopia will choose her, but it's Katniss people. Especially in the first book of the trilogy, I love her as a main character. 
  2. Tally Youngblood: I love how flawed, but rebellious, of a character she is. Definitely easy to relate to and love along her journey to find true beauty.
  3. Molly Pratt: I really enjoyed her as a minor character in Rebel Heart. I thought she added a lot to the story in the way of revealing more about other characters and providing a connection to Jack. She also is just awesome. 
  4. June Iparis: The first time I read about her, I knew I was going to love her character. Smart, strong, and a little bit sleuthy (yes, I invent words for a living :P), she combines all the elements that make (to me) an excellent female lead. 
  5. Will: This was a real toss-up between Will and Christina, but because I realized I have four other girls on this list, I thought I should probably choose a guy. I really like Will because he's super sweet and funny, though I would've liked to see more development around him. SPOILER ALERT, It is very unfortunate that this cannot happen in the last instalment because he has been killed off by Tris herself. >.< SPOILER ALERT OVER. 
Fairytale Retellings
  1. Inigo Montoya: "My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die." Enough said.
  2. Bramble Wentworth: A trouble-maker through and through, Bramble was always fun to read about. You could tell by reading the book that she cares deeply about her family though, and I just loved the separate personalities of all the 12 sisters.
  3. Snow: This is Snow White from The Stepsister Scheme, and though I had a tough choice between her and Talia, I had to go with Snow. She was constantly joking around and lightening the mood, and some of her comments were really quite funny. She was sweet and fun, yet still deadly and dangerous when she wants to be. Awesome! :D
  4. Scarlett March: Though I didn't agree with a lot of what she did or thought, she definitely was very intriguing to read about and I liked her chemistry with Rosie. She also can hold her own against a werewolf. Multiple times. She does it for a living. 
  5. Skulni: I am finding myself wondering why the heck he is on my list. I have a very strong dislike for this character, and I remember he used to freak me out when I was younger (I had nightmares about this guy). But he is one of the main reasons the book was so excellent to me and was a very creative villain, and so he managed to make his way onto this week's list.
I would love to see what genre everyone else chooses! Leave the link to your top ten in the comments, and anything else you would like to say about my list or blog. :) Thanks for reading!

Wednesday 13 February 2013

Reading Update (6)

Some weeks I will be dividing this into the sections below, and sometimes through three separate categories (see this post).

Read: This is my sixth update, and since Weekly Update #5 I have read and loved Legend by Marie Lu and the Maze Runner by James Dashner. Reviews for both of these awesome dystopia books will be posted on Goodreads soon.

Currently Reading: I also have started The Stepsister Scheme by Jim Hines, which is proving to be quite entertaining so far. I also began the first 40 pages or so of Gone by Michael Grant, which is so far turning out to be a great novel.

To Read: I am so excited to start Sweetly by Jackson Pearce! I have a trip ahead of me, in which I might get some reading done. I also am dying to read Magic Study by Maria V. Snyder after loving Poison Study so much and receiving a beautiful cover of the sequel from my library, but I've heard it starts to go downhill. Anyway, I can't wait to read these two books.

I also have some somewhat exciting (to me at least :P) news. I just got a tumblr. :) It is called "Every Shade of Awesome" and will include photos about books, dance, and more of my loves and interests. I would love it if you took a look, and if you have tumblr, followed me (if you like my type of tumblr, that is). Thanks!

Top Ten Best Romances in Books

Oops! I was kind of busy yesterday, and so I did not post my top ten tuesday! :O So I am posting it now. Because this element is not generally what makes a book great for me, I only have five this week.

Top Ten Best Romances in Books
February 12, 2013
  1. Hermione and Ron from Harry Potter: They are on almost every list but I don't care because they are just so, so perfect together. In the sixth book especially, their romance and comments are hilarious. Their romance is never, ever boring. 
  2. June and Day from Legend: I like how there is not too much focus on romance in this book, so their chemistry was nice to see when it did happen.
  3. Yelena and Valek from Poison Study: Yay! No insta-love! Together, they are perfect, except for the fact that Valek is like, 30-something and Yelena is 18 or 19. Whatever. 
  4. Saba and Jack from Blood Red Road: I did not like this aspect in Rebel Heart, but it was really well thought out and sometimes quite funny in Blood Red Road, earning the two of them a spot on this list. 
  5. Jubilee and Stewart from Let it Snow: This was just really, really sweet so I felt the need to put it on my list. 
That's it! Thanks for reading. :)

Friday 8 February 2013

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey MOVIE REVIEW!

Hey everyone! Here is my The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey movie review. I mostly just reviewed the movie rather than a book to movie adaptation. Watch my video to see how I liked it! :)


*Disclaimer: The music is NOT MINE and is courtesy to iLife and iMovie (though I did pitch some of it for effect), and neither are the pictures. The following sources own license to these awesome images. Gollum, Gandalf, Elrond, Galadriel, Frodo, Dwarves, and Bilbo.

NOTE: If it says "blocked plug-in", try watching it in Firefox. :)

Tuesday 5 February 2013

Top Ten Best Bookish Memories

This is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and The Bookish in which they will post a topic and then participants will make their top ten according to the topic. Feel free to go to their site and join in. This week's topic is...

Top Ten Best Bookish Memories
February 5, 2013
  1. Reading the Harry Potter series and re-watching the movies: AHHHHH! THIS WAS MY LIFE. Still is my life, actually. The experience of reading and watching, then re-reading and re-watching is just something I'll always remember. No book will ever be held as dearly with me as with HP. 
  2. Seeing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 (twice) in theatres: It was just so... Amazing. The end of the beginning. The beginning of the end. That was my entire childhood....
  3. Private showing of Harry Potter and the Deathly hallows Part 1: This is similar to the first one, but this time it was a private showing! And it was part 1. And there were free donuts... ;)
  4. Passing notes in the library: Slipping notes into the hold's... So much fun. 
  5. Entering my first writing contest: Just the other day I entered my FIRST WRITING CONTEST. This is huge for me. :D
  6. Becoming aware of the book community: Blogs, YouTube, Goodreads. I'm so glad I was introduced to this, and to me this counts as a memory. 
  7. Walking down the street in my Gryffindor scarf: This may seem like a small thing but it actually just kind of makes my day.
  8. All the stories I wrote when I was younger. Oh my gosh they were horrible, but cute, and I will always remember writing them. 
  9. "I volunteer as tribute!": Several times I have heard people answer this to a question and such and I just love hearing people say it, especially random people I don't know. 
  10. Reading books: Yes, this is a memory. Every book I've read, love it or hate it, I remember and this just had to be my final one. 
Nearly half of those are Harry Potter... The top three are at least... Typical me. What are your top ten? Please comment and compare if you would like. :)

Monday 4 February 2013

Rainbow Spines Tag!

Tags are basically an activity or set of questions on Youtube. However, I don't have a Youtube account, but didn't want to miss the fun, so I sometimes do tags.

Today I am doing the Rainbow Spines Tag, and I was tagged by Brianna at The Book Nook (thanks Brianna!). The creator of this tag is Arrictine Reads on YouTube. The instructions for this tag is to choose a book with a spine or cover from each colour of the rainbow. Here is a short video showing the books I chose.


I tag everyone! Make a video or post on your blog or upload to Youtube. :)

Friday 1 February 2013

February TBR!

It is now February, which means it's time to talk about my TBR! Most people are getting into Valentine's Day with romance, but that is not what I want to read right now, plus I don't even like the romance genre a whole lot. As you might've seen, I put a poll up on the sidebar asking which genre of books I should read next month. I only got a few votes, but Fairytale Retellings won. However, though it got zero votes, I am feeling a strong need for dystopia to keep me out of a reading slump. So here's what I've done: 3 books from two categories rather than 4 from one. That will bring my concrete TBR up to six, but I think I can handle it. Here are the books I've chosen.

Fairytale Retellings:
  1. Sweetly by Jackson Pearce
  2. The Stepsister Scheme by Jim C. Hines
  3. Princess of the Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George
Dystopia:
  1. Legend by Marie Lu
  2. Gone by Michael Grant
  3. The Maze Runner by James Dashner 
I still may read more books in these genres this month, but I am not certain about them so I won't put them on here. I'll let them be a surprise. ;) Anyway, I am really, really, really looking forward to this month. I would love it if you told me some books on your February TBR in the comments.

*By the way, on a very unrelated side note, I just discovered that the Glass series by Maria V. Snyder is a spin-off of the Study series! MUST READ. O_o