Reader Rayna

Month: April 2015

  • Happy World Book Day!

    Today, April 23, is World Book Day, a day that was created by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). This day is special because it is the day that three authors – Cervantes, Shakespeare, and Inca Garcilaso de la Vega – all died in 1616. It is also the birth or death date of some other prominent authors. It’s a day in which UNESCO wanted people to celebrate books, especially young people, so that they’d gain a new found appreciation and love for reading.

    On this day, many are celebrating their love for reading. I know I am. I actually didn’t know about it until I saw it was trending on Twitter, but that’s okay. I’m still celebrating my love of books by currently reading “Clockwork Angel” by Cassandra Clare (among others at the same time, one e-book, one audiobook).

    World Book Day is a wonderful thing and I think we should all celebrate in our own way. Reading is a door to other lives, to the past, present, and future; to other worlds, dimensions, time periods; to every gender and color and species under the sun. Reading is beautiful and fun and magnificent.

    Please pick up a book today and enjoy the love of reading. Read something you love, something that’ll make you cry, get angry, feel all mushy inside. Whatever you pick up, just remember how much you love books. Read diversely, read series, read comics, read non-fiction, read religion, read politics, read whatever makes you happy.

    Happy reading and happy world book day!

  • Top 5 Wednesday: Books that Feature Traveling

    Welcome to another Top 5 Wednesday! Today’s topic is books that feature traveling (any genre). Now initially my first thought was of time travel, but then I thought, well, maybe it could be a road trip or moving from one place to the next or whatever it may be. So here are the top five books I think of when I think of traveling:

    twilight5. Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

    As anyone knows who has read the Twilight saga, there is a lot of traveling that goes on in these books. Bella moves from Arizona to Washington then they hop over to Italy, then back to Washington, and Arizona, and really, they’re just all over. So this is definitely a book I think of when it comes to traveling. Plus the descriptions are enough that you get the sense of what that place looks like (hot and dry; wet and rainy; cool clock tower).

    daughterofsmokeandbone4. Daughter of Smoke & Bone by Laini Taylor

    Karou travels all the time in this book as it’s kind of part of her job. She goes in between worlds and chills with chimera while also traveling to places like Prague, Morocco, India, anywhere, really. It’s kind of cool to think about traveling all over the world through a bunch of door portals, but I don’t know that I’d want to have the job she does in order to use that portal.

    stardust3. Stardust by Neil Gaiman

    From the town of Wall to the magical land beyond and above, Tristan takes a journey from reality into a place where many things are possible. Not only does he enter the land of faerie, but he also travels in the sky with pirates and journeys across this magical realm for a star for his beloved. Kind of cool, really. I want to fly with pirates.

    cityofbones2. The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare

    From the streets of Brooklyn to the world of Idris, this book features traveling quite often, especially when Magnus Bane uses the portal to transport people all over the place on occasion. This book definitely features some travel and the characters are always running all over the New York streets to catch some bad guys, so I definitely think of them.

    thesebrokenstars1. These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner

    I don’t know how much more traveling you need other than hyperdrives in space. I mean, SPACE. The final frontier. Pretty damn cool. The characters in their books travel from the known to the unknown in the blink of an eye and it’s so cool to imagine being out there and seeing so many different worlds and peoples and experiencing new cultures. Sure, there’s an uprising or two, but pssh, that’s okay.

    What are your top five picks for books that feature traveling? Let me know!

  • Top Ten Tuesday: All Time Favorite Authors

    Welcome to another Top Ten Tuesday as hosted by the lovely people of the Broke and the Bookish. Today’s topic is all time favorite authors. That’s right, from childhood to now, who are your top ten favorite authors?

    1. Sarah J Maas. I mean, c’mon, did anyone not expect to see her on here? She definitely makes the list for having such awesome storytelling skills, kickass female heroines, and just cool stories overall.

    2. Cassandra Clare. Again, was this a surprise? She’s one of my writing influencers and I just love her storytelling and the plots she comes up with. Great writing mind, plus we’re from the same state. xD

    3. Mary E. Pearson. She wrote on of my favorite books (that has just been made a favorite recently) and she’s also one of the first authors to ever respond to me via social media. So yes, she definitely makes my top ten. She seems like a sweet lady and I hope to meet her one day!

    4. Neil Gaiman. His writing style is beautiful and I just love the stories he comes up with. I haven’t read many books by him yet, but I’m slowly making my way through. He has a great mind and creative genius and he’s definitely another role model for my own writing.

    5. Nancy Farmer. She wrote one of my favorite books of all time, so she had to make this list. Though I’ve never read the sequel or anything else by her, I really enjoyed her storytelling and just how she explained so much in a given space.

    6. Laini Taylor. She wrote a fantastic series (which I’ve only read the first book of so far) and has a great writing style. She makes me love love and want to know more about the world that she wrote about. Plus she has awesome pink hair.

    7. J.K. Rowling. Even though I haven’t completed the Harry Potter series for the first time, I still really have enjoyed the series thus far, plus I love the movie adaptations. She invested so much into those books and I feel that she definitely deserves to be on my list.

    8. Becky Albertalli. Definitely a new favorite author after reading her book. She has a no-nonsense writing style and I love the way she used her knowledge and past experience with teens to write the book. Fantastic.

    9. Stephenie Meyer. During the height of Twilight I’d say she would’ve been my #1 favorite author, but now I just reflect back on those times in high school and it’s definitely more of a nostalgic feel than anything.

    10. Rainbow Rowell. I’d consider her among my favorite authors. She’s good at writing books that connect you to the characters and think of your own past with certain situations that happen in the books. At least that’s what happens with me. Plus her style is unique and I really like it.

    I just realized I only have one male author on my list. Wow.

    Anyway, those are some of my all time favorite authors! I honestly am not surprised most of them have stemmed from recent years, but hey, it happens.

    Who are some of your favorite authors? Let me know!

  • Stardust Movie Review

    stardustmovieThe other day I watched the movie adaptation of Neil Gaiman‘s “Stardust,” and I have to say, it was pretty dang enjoyable. The movie, like the book, follows a young man named Tristan who is trying to win his true love’s heart. When they see a shooting star together he vows to bring back the fallen star to her in turn for her hand in marriage. She agrees and Tristan sets off on an epic journey through faerie to get the star.

    When he sets off with a candle his mother (whom he’s never met) gave him in a letter, he soon finds out that the star is not actually a big hunk of rock, but rather a young woman with a bit of an attitude.

    But the thing is, Tristan isn’t the only one looking for the star, Yvaine. A witch wishes to steal Yvaine’s heart so she can become young and beautiful again; and a son of a king needs to find the necklace that Yvaine now wears in order to claim the crown.

    It’s an epic tale with lots of funny moments, romance, and a tale that you won’t soon forget.

    It was definitely very reminiscent of the book. It started out a bit differently than what had happened in the book, but the same type of plot was still there: boy manages to sneak past the wall that separates the regular world from the magical, goes to festival, gets a woman pregnant. You know, the usual. But it’s a really fast scene and it felt kind of rushed to get to the main story. Let me talk about some of the difference I noticed as I was watching this book-to-movie adaptation:

    • The beginning, as stated above, was different and kind of rushed.
    • There was no little faerie man to help Tristan out at the beginning or to explain the Babylon candle.
    • Yvaine’s leg didn’t really seemed to be broken, but more like sprained because they never splinted it or anything in the movie.
    • The sequence of events happened differently, too, such as when the witch set up the inn and when they met the pirates in the sky. I believe these two things happened in reverse in the books (I could be mistaken, though).
    • We never got to see Tristan’s “mother” or sister at the beginning.
    • Saltwater Sal didn’t actually die in the book.
    • There was a whole fight at the witch’s manor, which I don’t recall at all from the book.

    I mean, this was a pretty good adaptation, in my opinion. I think it was a bit more humorous from the book, but I really enjoyed it.

    Now, as for my opinions on the film itself:

    • You could tell when there was CGI and when there wasn’t. Oh my, the CGI. Called it every time.
    • The actors all did a great job portraying their character, and I especially loved Captain Shakespeare. He was a hoot.
    • The added battle scene with the witches was needed, I think, in terms of how the movie flowed. It didn’t hinder it at all, in my opinion, but added to it.
    • The comedy was great and added a light and airy feeling to the movie where I felt the book was more serious.

    Overall, I enjoyed the movie and thought it was a good adaptation. Of course there were some things that could have been added or changed around, but it was faithful through most of it.

    I give this movie a rating of 8/10 stars and highly recommend it for anyone who’s read the novel.

  • Do You Ever…

    Want to just say “screw it” to your TBR for the month and read whatever you want?

    Want to read every single book on your shelf at the same time?

    Rearrange your shelves like there’s no tomorrow?

    These are some of the things that have been plaguing me the last several days. I just haven’t wanted to read the books I had planned for my TBR this month, even though there’s only three of them, and I’ve already read three books not on my TBR, so it’s not like I lost out or anything.

    I just have this strong urge to rebel against myself and say, “HA! I’m going to read what I want!” And, well, that’s kind of the idea, right?

    My only problem is: every time I go to pick up a book, I can’t make myself read it. Maybe it’s a nagging feeling about not reading the books I said I’d read for the month. Or maybe it’s just that I’m in the mood for something else. I’m not sure, but it’s driving me crazy.

    AND THEN. I literally want to read every single book I haven’t read that are on my shelves right now. I want to explore these new worlds and learn these new characters and fall in love and hate and cry. Like, seriously, these emotions are strong.

    But in reality, I know I can’t read every single book at the same time because then 1) I’d be overwhelmed, 2) I’d most likely mix up characters/worlds/plots/etc, and 3) ain’t nobody got time for that.

    And the rearranging the shelves thing… I just want to make them look prettier. That’s really the least of my worries right now.

    Have you ever felt like this? What do you do to satisfy yourself? What works for you? Do you just jump right into another book or try to really stick to a set schedule? Sometimes I just need to take a break and watch Netflix or play a video game or just do something else so my brain can reset. Do you ever find yourself needing to do that, too? Let me know!