Reader Rayna

Month: December 2014

  • #ProjectFiveBooks and #0by16

    This was an idea I saw on InkBonesBook‘s channel entited Book Hual #ProjectFiveBooks & #0by16. They’re very creative and very productive in terms of how they’re structured, so I figured I’d discuss them and also share my opinions on them.

    Project Five Books

    The basic premise of this project is for every five books you read you are allowed to buy one book. This is to keep to be read (TBR) piles down, as well as save you money.

    I love this concept, actually. I have over 80 to 90 books on my shelves alone that don’t include my ebooks or my husband’s shelves of books that I want to/should read. By buying one book per five books read, I will not only be cutting my TBR pile down slowly, I will be saving a lot of money in the long run.

    As book lovers and avid readers, it’s very hard for us to sometimes slow down and realize that we’re buying books faster than we can read them. For me it’s no different, especially when I see interesting books in videos that make me want to buy them… Yeah, it becomes a problem.

    So I plan on participating in this project. My only exceptions are: a) if I’ve read the first book in a trilogy/series and need to know what happens next before I move on to another book, and b) if I have gift cards. Those are the only two times I’m planning on not sticking to this project, but who knows how it’ll go?

    0 by 16 (Zero by 2016)

    This was a concept Sanaa from InkBonesBooks was originally inspired by Liz at LizLovesLit. This is similar to Project Five Books, but not entirely.

    So this idea is to have zero books on your TBR by New Year of 2016. That’s a whole year to get your TBR pile down from however high it is down to zero. This is so that a) you can say you’ve read x amount of books, and b) so you won’t feel guilty when you buy more books.

    And don’t even lie. You know you feel guilty when you know you have books waiting for you at home and you’re buying another pile. We all have that feeling.

    This idea is essentially to promote reading on its most basic level while keeping the reader from feeling guilty or stressed out for needing to read a certain amount of books in a given period of time.

    Now for me, I don’t think I’ll complete this challenge as I’m a slower reader depending on how into the book I am, but I’m going to do my best. If I don’t complete this challenge, though, I’m not going to sweat it. This is just me hoping I’ll be able to get through it.

    So those are the two projects that are going around lately. If you’re interested, please don’t hesitate to start!

    Accompanying video: #ProjectFiveBooks and #0by16

    Do these sound interesting to you? Would you/are you going to participate? Let me know in the comments below!

  • To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before Book Review

    toalltheboysivelovedbefore

    Title: To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before
    Author: Jenny Han
    Series: Book #1 in To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before duology
    Publisher: Simon & Schuster
    Publication Date: January 1, 2014
    Genres: Young Adult – Contemporary, Romance
    Pages: 288
    Format: Purchased Signed Hardcover

    “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before” by Jenny Han is a story about a girl named Lara Jean who writes love letters to every boy she’s ever loved – five in all. She pours out all her feelings into these letters, but never sends them; they’re written as a means to an end, a way for her to say good-bye, even though the boy never knows that she liked him to begin with. One day her letters are somehow sent out and soon she’s set in a whirlwind situation that she never hoped would happen.

    When I first read the premise for this book, I thought that it was really unique and cool. We were all teenagers once (or are…or will be) and so we know what it’s like to have crushes, to be infatuated with someone and wish we could tell them everything we feel about them. Well, I know I have, anyway, and so when I first picked up this book I was very excited to read it.

    It was really hard to get into at first. Han’s writing style is different than what I expected and the story itself at the beginning just seemed slow. It took me probably about 50-75 pages to really get into it before I felt like the story was picking up and moving along.

    Throughout the book I noticed a lot of typos of extra words being placed in sentences that didn’t need to be there or lines that didn’t make any sense whatsoever. Whoever edited the book didn’t do a superb job on it, but oh well.

    The story itself was cute. It kind of reminded me of stories where people pretend to date and really don’t like each other, but over time, emotions do become real and things go down. Some of it kept me guessing, some of it was reminiscent of my high school days (which I don’t miss), and some of it was heartwarming, funny, and romantic.

    Lara Jean herself is an interesting girl I could see myself being friends with if she were real. She’s quirky, artistic, funny, creative. But she has her weak points of sometimes being oblivious or letting her emotions reign over herself. She seems like a pretty average teenage girl, really.

    Her sisters, Kitty (the little sister) and Margot (the older), are both unique individuals, as well, and play their role as the must-take-care-of-everything older sister and the can-get-away-with-anything younger sister. Seeing it through the perspective of Lara Jean’s eyes, though, we obviously don’t get an extreme depth or perception of these other girls, but the basic nuts and bolts are there.

    Josh, the boy next door, is super sweet and nice. I thought he was very… well, I found him predictable, like Lara Jean did in the story. But sometimes I saw more and was happily satisfied with how he acted, other times I didn’t like it much.

    Peter is how I would envision when I imagine jerk jocks, but then there’s always the side you find later on because you don’t know the person and discover how they act and who they really are over time. From afar, he acts stupid. Up close, he’s actually quite charming.

    I don’t like Genevieve.

    All in all, the characters each had their own flaws and unique characteristics that made them believable throughout the story. Can I also just mention that a lot of these names, especially for the girls, are weird? Not in a bad way, but just really unique. I thought it was weird to read it in a contemporary novel, but I guess it’s also refreshing to see such unique names in a real place setting.

    The plot itself seemed like it would drag on at times, especially at the beginning, but as I read on I was more and more engulfed in the story and wanted to see how it played out. I realize that this is the first book in a trilogy (I think its a trilogy), and I really hope we get to see what happens next between Lara Jean and Peter because I have a few theories that I want to see if they get played out or not.

    Overall, this book was fun and cute and definitely reminiscent of high school, first loves, and all the drama in between.

    I rate this book 4/5 stars.

  • Buying Books and Feeling Guilty

    This was a discussion topic that’s been floating around for a while, and I originally saw it on Raeleen’s channel of padfootandprongs07.

    If you’re an avid reader and you love reading, then you’re most likely buying a lot of books. A lot more than you can read through in a given set period of time. Most often your TBR (to be read) pile will keep growing and growing and it’ll never get down. But when you see these books in videos or in the stores or online you just can’t help but want to read it because you’re interested in it, it sounds like a good read, and you have to have it now.

    And then the guilt starts swirling in your stomach like a whirlpool. You start feeling as though everyone is watching you and judging you, even though they’re not (well, they might be, you never know). You know you have X amount of books waiting for you to read them on your shelf at home, but you just need to have the seven or twelve books you hold in your hands.

    See now, the thing is, some people will stare at you in disbelief and question why you’re buying more books – again – when you have so many you haven’t read yet. Some will mock you, even be angry with you for buying more.

    There’s just one little detail that they’re forgetting, and quite possibly you’re forgetting, too: you’re a reader. What you do is love to read, and even though you may have over 100 books on your TBR, or even 20 or less, you still love books. And it’s your money, so really, as long as you’re not doing anything illegal with it or going out of control, then who cares, right?

    As a reader, you might feel compelled to buy a book here or there even though you know you won’t get to it for another month or two, or another year or two.

    It’s okay.

    If you know you’ll get to it eventually, then get them. You bought them for a reason, so don’t feel guilty about it.

    I know that I’ve felt guilty over the past few months since joining BookTube and buying a crap ton of books. Seriously, my pile has grown massive in just a few short months. Did I feel the guilt wash over me? Oh yes, multiple times. Did I listen to the guilt? On occasion. Did I ever later regret buying a book? No, I don’t think so.

    I know I’m going to get to all of the books on my shelves eventually. As a slow reader, who was quite busy this past year, I didn’t have a lot of time or energy to focus on reading and getting my TBR pile down. I have read almost 20 books this year, though, which was my goal for the year, so I am proud of myself for that.

    But in all honesty, if you really want that book, then go for it. Yes, your tastes will change and you may not want to read it for a while, but you’ll get to it eventually.

    One tip I loved from Raeleen’s video was removing books that you don’t want to read right then and there, pack them away, and then pull them out a few months later. It’ll be like receiving a present on your birthday – the excitement of it will wash away any guilty feelings you had before then because you probably won’t remember what you put in there. This is so you can free up space on your shelves and not stare at books all the time.

    But if you like staring at your impressive collection, then leave them out. No one’s going to stop you; they’re your shelves, do with them as you please.

    Remember: never feel guilty for buying a book. Books are meant to be read. So many people nowadays aren’t reading as much that for you to be picking up those books and producing revenue for book publishing companies and authors is a great way to keep the business going. Obviously, it’s not going to go out any time soon (we hope), but still you’re helping out, even in the smallest possible way.

    Keep buying books without feeling guilty; you’ll feel much better in the long run. You’re not alone in this by a long shot.

    Happy reading!

    Accompanying video: Discussion | Buying Books and Feeling Guilty

    Do you ever buy books and feel the guilt after? How do you cope? Let me know in the comments below!

  • December 2014 TBR

    Herp derp, I never even told you what I was going to read for the month! So because NaNoWriMo happened in November, I only read one book that I didn’t even finish until December (see Exquisite Captive review). I’m much more ambitious this month, and so far I have read and finished three books this month! Very proud of myself.

    Here’s a list of the books I plan on reading/finishing this month:

    Those are all the books I planned on reading this month, and so far I’ve made decent progress! I’m trying my best to stick to my TBR, but I really want to read every single book on my shelf at the exact same moment, so it’s proving itself difficult.

    Accompanying video: December 2014 TBR

    What are your reading plans for December, even though we’re half way through? Let me know in the comments!

  • NaNaWriMo 2014 Revision Plans

    I never posted this here initially, or really kept up with updates, but I did win NaNoWriMo this year with over 50k words (50,281 to be exact)! I’m very proud of myself as I won on day 29, and I wrote my butt off to catch up when I fell behind.

    If you want to read a synopsis and excerpt from my novel, you can go check out my page.

    So let me talk about my revision plans. I’ve got a lot of them planned, I’m just not going to get them started until the new year because my brain needs time to recuperate after all that writing and other busy things going on, plus my husband and I are going on a honeymoon to Disney World over Christmas, so… I have no time to think about my story.

    Anyway, now that I’ve rambled, let me get on with my revision plans:

    • I’m going to rewrite the entire novel in first person point of view present tense from the perspective of my main female character, Dahlia, whom I connected with much more than my main guy character, Jake.
    • After that second draft (since my first NaNo draft is… my first draft) I’m going to polish it up and have several people who were interested in reading it read it.
    • Upon feedback from them, I will revise more and start looking for/querying potential literary agents who might be able to help me get my book published.
    • Yes, my ultimate goal is to get my work published, and I do love the story very much and I believe it would be a great debut novel (at least I hope). That doesn’t mean that I’m not going to grow in my writing from doing multiple drafts or anything of the like. As many people say, it’s not about getting published, it’s about the writing process.
      • What I’ve learned from it is that I missed writing. I missed being creative and spewing out as much as possible to create a feasible, entertaining story.

    So my revision plans are pretty standard, I think, for any aspiring writer. I love my story and want to share it with the world. I have many other story ideas and writing plans, I just need to implement them and begin writing. No one’s going to tell those stories but me, so I may as well get on it, right?

    Did you participate in NaNo this year? How did you do? What are your revision plans, if any? Let me know in the comments below!