Top Ten Book Related Problems I Have

Top Ten Tuesdays is a weekly feature created at The Broke and The Bookish.

1. Twelve books at once. This has been a problem recently. I've been struggling with finishing books recently (look forward to the February DNF pile... I feel like its going to be huge if I don't get my act together soon).

2. Multiple library books. I have this habit of taking ten or fifteen books at a time, which is all well and good in the summer months when I'm not in classes, but when I'm in the throes of midterms its a bit of a problem.

3. Running out of shelf space. I'm finally getting there. Time to give some books away soon, perhaps?

4. Lending books. I do lend out books from my library (because, if they aren't going to be read, what's the point in having books?), but I still get antsy when people have a book for more than a week or two. It doesn't help that some people keep my books for months... I need to set at three-week limit.

5. Carrying multiple books around. I've been carrying three books around in my school bag, which probably isn't good for my back. Or my attentiveness to those dull lectures (most of my classes are great, but there's one...)

6. Disorganised book shelves. Right now its a bit of a problem, because I haven't sorted out my shelves since last year, and I've acquired a couple of books since then. And I don't want to reorganise them until I get all of my books back.

7. Most book events are in Texas. I am in Canada. You see the problem?

8. The book events that do happen around here have this awkward habit of happening during midterms, exams, or in places completely inaccessible without a car.

That's all I've got off the top of my head.

Challenges 2015

This post is late... because I'm an indecisive creature. So here we go (click the banners/logos to see the sign-up page on the host blog):

We all know that I an obsessive rereader who rereads, so why not make it official? I'm planning to do at least ten rereads. I'm not quite sure what exactly those will be, but they will happen.

Have you seen this thing? It is a slight disaster... and thus, the organisation challenge.

Top Ten Things I Like/Dislike When It Comes To Romances In Books

Top Ten Tuesdays is a weekly feature created at The Broke and The Bookish.

Oh boy, this is going to be hard... I'm not much of a romantic (that or I'm too much of a romantic, you decide)... Okay. Lets see.

1. Not overbearing. I prefer the romance not to be the only thing that's going on. I don't mind it being an important part of the story, but I need something else happening. Like aliens. Or dragons. I'm here for the dragons.
2. Both the main character and the love interest are actual characters. Characters with flaws and personalities. I find it impossible to invest in a pair when one of them feels like they exist solely to be part of a romantic plot. Essentially that they both have a life outside of the other person.
3. Slow build. I know people will argue to the moon and back about whether or not insta-love is a thing... but you don't meet someone one day, and then decide you would die without them the next.
4. Chemistry... I guess? That the couple feels... right together? I don't know what the word would be. I guess chemistry.
5. Characters actually seem to want to know each other. I don't know how to explain this one... but that they actually want to spend time together. Like, just doing things like... I don't know homework or battle plans or having an actual conversation. Especially if they learn from each other.
6. Trust. Call me naive, but I feel like if you can't trust someone, you probably shouldn't be in a relationship with them.
7. Inside jokes. Crazy plans. Dodge ball. Generally just having fun with each other? Like, it doesn't all have to be life and death romantic stuff.
8. Seriously, having something, anything in common besides the love part.
9. NO LOVE TRIANGLES. (Does this belong here... whatever, it is at least 4% of my personality on any given day, so its here). I have read *counts of fingers* .., one? Maybe two? Love triangles that I didn't dislike. They're a hard trope to do in a way that's appealing, and too often feel unnecessary.
10. I don't like the phrase "devastatingly handsome" unless they are being said sarcastically, and even then I'm iffy... I don't know why it bothers me so much... it just does. (I think maybe it has been over-used? Maybe I subconsciously associate it with another trope I don't like?) I wrote a rant-y post about it a long time ago, which I am not linking because I hope it will never be unearthed (then why mention it?)

I feel like this got really off topic... this is one of those posts that I might come back and update if I think of something else. I feel like this wasn't what the prompt meant... *shrugs*

Top Ten Books I Want to Read from the Fantasy Genre

Top Ten Tuesdays is a weekly feature created at The Broke and The Bookish.

1. Transcendent by Lesley Livingston: There were some shenanigans with the release date here in Canada, and then I didn't get around to buying it. It wasn't available in stores near where I am.

2. Stolen Songbird by Danielle L. Jenson: It has been on my list for a while now (a long while, by my standards).

3. Toads and Diamonds by Heather Tomlinson: I actually have this book in my TBR pile now, I ordered if from the Book Outlet a little while ago.

4. The Sleeper and the Spindle by Neil Gailman (illustrated by Chris Riddell): The cover looks lovely, and I'm interested.

5.  The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancy: This has been on my list for a very long time, and I've just somehow not gotten around to it.

6. House of Ivy and Sorrow by Natalie Whipple: Because Gothics.

7. Compulsion by Martina Boone: See above, because Gothics.

8. Blood Song by Rhiannon Hart: This is something that I became aware of this one late last year, and I'm super curious about it.

9. Mistwalker by Saundra Mitchell: Again, long time on the TBR. Also, I've heard it is quite lovely.

10. Cutlass by Ashley Nixon: It is name after a sword.

This is just right now, I have a lot of fantasy novels that I really want to read, and have been putting off for a while.

January Wrap-Up

The month in books:
January was quite a good reading month for me. I've been listening to audiobooks more and more recently. This month I listened to two new ones.

• Winterspell by Claire Legnard
• Mortal Heart by Robin LaFevers
• Still Star-Crossed by Melinda Taub
• Death Sworn by Leah Cypress
• Zodiac by Romina Russel
• The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black
• Shadow Scale by Rachel Hartman (review to come)
• The Spiderwick Chronicles by Holly Black
• The Brokenhearted by Amelia Kahaney
• Fairest by Marissa Meyer
• Ticker by Lisa Mantchev

Audiobooks:

• Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater (I read the book when it came out, but I like the really enjoy the audiobooks for this series, too).
• Sinner by Maggie Stiefvater

January book haul featuring the office floor and terrible lighting because it is 7 pm in Canada and thus there is no natural lighting whatsoever.

I don't usually have enough books to do a haul on, but here's my January mess. I didn't actually get purchase most of them in January, but they came in January, so that counts. Most of them are from the Book Outlet (they had a boxing day sale, and most of these were books that I've had my eye on for a while).

Book Outlet:

• Cinder by Marissa Meyer (the hardcover was about $3.00, and I've wanted to get a hardcover of this for a while now)
• Death Sworn by Leah Cypress
• Toads and Diamonds by Heather Tomlinson
• Nation by Terry Pratchett  (the hardcover, this time for a non-ridiculous reason: I find the trade paperback very uncomfortable to read)
• The Brokenhearted by Amelia Kahney 
• Thumbs, Toes and Tears by Chip Walter
• Blonde Ops by Charlotte Bennardo and Natalie Zaman
• Still Star-Crossed by Melinda Taub
• Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo (I'm getting them in paperback, since I really enjoyed them when I borrowed them from the library)
• Survival of the Beautiful: Art, Science and Evolution by David Rothenberg

Chapters:

• Fairest by Marissa Meyer (I got it 40% off... it was on sale for some reason, not that I'm complaining)
• Spiderwick: The Completely Fantastical Edition by Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi: this is a beautiful bind-up, it has sketches in the back
• The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black

So, probably don't expect a book haul with next month's wrap up (we'll see), because I rarely anywhere near this many books in a month.

January Mini- Reviews

Fairest by Marissa Meyer
Release Date: January 27, 2015
Out of Ten: 6/10
Review: I was a little leery going into this one. I've mentioned before that I'm generally more of a hero person, for one thing. On the other hand, though, I am a fan of the Lunar chronicles and I was definitely game to explore more of the world.

What I found with this book was it lacked the vibrancy of the other books. There's just a certain je ne sais quoi that the rest of the works in the series have that this just didn't. Part of it was that I couldn't cheer for Levana- even if I hadn't know that she would end up an antagonist, I doubt I would have liked her, and I found her hard to even empathise with. That said, it was still interesting to get more insight into Levana's story, as well as Luna as a setting, where at least part of Winter is to be set. Overall, this novel feels like more of a primer for Winter than a stand-alone story.

The interior art is quite stunning, though, so I'm including a little photo of it (the lighting is bad due to the fact that it is entirely an artificial source... and a compact florescent).

Ticker by Lisa Mantchev
Release Date: December 1, 2014
Out of Ten: 4/10
Review: Despite a lot of things that I didn't enjoy about this book, it had some fun moments. Steampunk is always hit-and-miss for me, and this was more of a miss. I quite liked the clockwork heart as an idea, but I wish the rest of the world were more clearly defined. One of the key parts of a successful Steampunk for me is that the Steampunk elements feel intrinsic to the world, and are organically a part of it, which wasn't the case with this story. I never knew exactly what the limits of the technology, how it worked was, for the most part was never explained. The world didn't end up feeling cohesive. Though there were some parts that were fun to read, they felt like they weren't truly a part of the story- it didn't really flow. The world building was carried out mainly though exposition. I wasn't generally attached to the characters, and I didn't much care for the romance- it felt forced. The end verdict on this was: interesting core concept, poor execution.

The Brokenhearted by Amelia Kahaney

Release Date: October 3, 2013

Out of Ten: 2/10

Review: I was not a fan of this one. Anthem drove me a little crazy, she was everything I dislike in a character, and was very hard to connect to. She was the worst kind of stupid: the kind that doesn't learn from her mistakes. I didn't like her way of doing things, I didn't like her personality. Anthem aside, I had a really hard time with how the concept was carried out. It just didn't make sense. I couldn't suspend disbelief about how she got the heart- her recovery time? Nobody recovers from a major organ transplant that quickly. Also, if you drown, it isn't your heart that is generally the problem... I could have done with more of and explanation as to how the heart gave her some of the powers she had (you do realise hummingbirds appear to "hover" because they have wings that they flap really, really fast, right? Not just through magic?) Overall, this really didn't work for me... I liked the idea of a super-hero origin story where a new heart eventually modifies the girl enough to grant her super-powers, but this wasn't what I was looking for, and really wasn't for me.

January DNF

This is a strange little DNF pile for this month. They're both carry-overs from December (actually, I started them in November).

Haze by Paula Weston

November 28-January 28

200 pages (I think, I was pretty close)

I just kept trying to finish this. I have actually been trying to read this for two months. It just wasn't working for me. I wasn't completely crazy about the story, and I just kind of lost interest. I might give this another try once the next book (or possibly the rest of the quartet) are out. We shall see.

Monstrous Affections: An Anthology of Beastly Tales
November 26- January 1
This collection started off really strong. I then hit a point where I had read three short stories that I really didn't care for, and couldn't stir up the enthusiasm to continue with the stories. I think I would like to pick this up again at some point, because there were some really strong series, and I hope that there will be a few more that I like. I feel like the short story format is better read separately, rather than back to back, so it might be better if I plan it more next time. I'm actually leaving it in my mental TBR pile, rather than DNF, because it feels weird to say I didn't finish each story, when I did finish and like a several of them.

Afterworlds by Scott Westerfeld
January 14-28
70 pages
I wanted to like this one. I really did. But I just can not get into this book. I tried to listen to the audiobook, I tried to read the novel, and I'm just not feeling it. Scott Westerfeld's writing is hit-and-miss for me- I really like the Leviathan trilogy, I really didn't like Uglies. His style has certain weaknesses, and I think there are certain stories that carry the writing and there are certain stories that don't, and this one didn't, for me. The characters just didn't really feel like they had any depth for me, and I wasn't invested in either of them. Part of it was the storytelling style, alternating between the contemporary of the writer, Darcy's, story and the other part is the character in the novel she's writing, Lizzie's story. The points of view didn't overlap well, taking away from each other rather than working together to form a cohesive book.

Ten Books I'd Love to Read With My Book Club/ If I Had A Book Club

Top Ten Tuesdays is a weekly feature created at The Broke and The Bookish.

I mean, there's the one that I'm part of on Twitter (and that has been lovely so far), but I don't have a one in real life... I've never been able to find people with tastes similar enough to mine for something like that to work. Hence the slash in the title.

1. Nation by Terry Pratchett. I have nobody to talk to about this one, and I feel like it bares discussion. (I tried to explain it to one of my friends and she looked at me blankly and said "So everybody in the village dies? Sounds like your kind of book." Which is, of course, patently untrue- almost everyone in the village does die, but that isn't why I read it.)

2. The Raven Boys (and, actually, the rest of The Raven Cycle) by Maggie Stiefvater. I actually have one friend (not the same as above) who has read and liked it, but she isn't as intense as most of the online community.

3. All Our Yesterdays by . I was reading it at school and I think I bothered my roommate about it while I was reading it... she had no other option but to listen to me randomly say random things about the book. I think it would be something that would be interesting to discuss.

4. Sorrow's Knot by Erin Bow. This is one of those books that I really liked, and I feel like it would be great to talk about.

5.  A Mad, Wicked Folly by Sarah Biggs Waller. It just sort of feels like a book club book.

6.  Vessel by Sarah Beth Durst. I think this would be interesting to read with a group.

7. Nobody by Jennifer Lynn Barnes. I don't know why I like the concept, but I really enjoyed the concept.

8. Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson. Again, I feel like this series would be interesting to discuss, especially as things build up.

9. The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black. Possibly I am a Holly Black kick... there's this strange feeling of sort of almost... slow decay to it that I found interesting.

10. Seraphina by Rachel Hartman. It might be on my mind because I just read Shadow Scale, but I think this would be sort of fun to discuss.

Now I want to start a book club.