Reader Rayna

Month: August 2015

  • Bout of Books 14 Day 1 + My Birthday

    Hey, today’s my birthday! I turned 24 today and it wasn’t a horrible day, but I did work the majority of the day. AND THEN IT GOT BETTER. My husband spoiled me and got me a card, gift card, seven books, two bookmarks, and paid for our dinner at Olive Garden. Suffice it to say, I have the best hubby ever. ❤

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    I got the Kate Daniels series by Ilona Andrews, books 1, 3-7 (book 2 has been ordered) and I hope I like it because I got the full series. I got it because of a recommendation video from a trusted reviewer, so I’m really hoping I like it!

    I also got the third book in the Grisha trilogy by Leigh Bardugo in paperback – now I can finally marathon it!

    And two awesome bookmarks. I love the blue one. xD

    Anywho, what about Bout of Books!? Well, the first day went really well! Here’s my progress so far:

    • The Final Empire: 9 pages read
    • Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire: 27 pages read
    • A Thousand Pieces of You: 11 pages read
    • A Game of Thrones: 0 pages read

    Hey, I read three chapters over the course of three books, which is great! That’s a total of 47 pages read yesterday! Woo!

    Oh! I also participated in the challenge for yesterday, which was to find 3-6 books that take place in other countries that aren’t the one you live in. Here’s what I came up with:

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    Today, day 2, my current progress is 18 pages in “Forbidden” by Kimberley Griffiths Little. It’s not one of the books on my TBR for the readathon, but I wanted to start reading it to see what it was about. So far it’s interesting.

    So far I’m doing well! But since it’s my birthday today, reading’s being put off for a little bit. But I think that’s a perfectly valid excuse!

    If you’re participating in Bout of Books, let me know how you’re doing! If you’re not participating, let me know what you’re currently reading!

  • Bout of Books 14

    Hey peeps! It’s time for another readathon, and this one in particular is called Bout of Books! I participated the last round, and I feel like participating again, so here’s my introductory post!

    Here’s the official blurb from the blog:

    The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, August 17th and runs through Sunday, August 23rd in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 14 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. – From the Bout of Books team

    I will be giving daily updates on my Twitter account as to how I’m doing, how much I’ve read, etc. I will also try to post daily here, as well, to give an idea of how I’m doing and all of that.

    I’m also going to try to participate in the challenges that are being held. For a list of the challenges/giveaways/Twitter chats, here’s the list below:

    Challenges/Giveaways

    Monday 8/17
    Between Library Shelves — Fictional World Travel

    Tuesday 8/18
    The Book Monsters — Book Scavenger Hunt

    Wednesday 8/19
    Rocky Top Real Talk — MASH

    Thursday 8/20
    Kimberly Faye Reads — 4 Seasons Book Covers

    Friday 8/21
    Blue Books and Butterflies — Character Soulmates

    Saturday 8/22
    Steph in Wonderland — Road Trip

    Sunday 8/23
    Sarah Reads Too Much — What to read next?

    Twitter Chats
    (chats last approximately one hour)
    TZC = Time Zone Conversion

    Monday: 8pm CST (TZC)
    Saturday: 10am CST (TZC)

    If you want to participate in this fun, relaxed readathon, be sure to sign up by Wednesday night!

    As for my TBR… I’m going to try to read a bunch of books at one time. I’ve been trying to for the past week or so, and even though one books has my attention more than the others, my goal is to read at least one chapter from at least two of the books listed below per day.

    So, what I plan on reading:

    Ambitious pile, right? That’s why I’m only aiming for one chapter per book per day, or whatever I can manage to do.

    Let me know if you’re participating in the readathon! I’d love to know what book(s) you’ll be reading this week!

  • Rayna Recommends: High Fantasy

    Welcome to another recommendation post! I figured I haven’t done one in a while and I really wanted to post something for the weekend (even if it’s a bit late in the day) so here it is!

    Today I’m going to be recommending high fantasy books/movies/etc. What is high fantasy? It’s fantasy not set in modern times or in a modern setting with some sort of magical or out-of-this-world element. You’ll see below exactly what I mean.

    Books

    I can go on for days with books as fantasy is my favorite genre, but here are a few I highly recommend:

    • “Falling Kingdoms” by Morgan Rhodes. This series is all high fantasy in that it follows four main characters – one of which has the ability to control the four elements – and is set in a world unlike our own. There is magic, Watchers (people that can turn into hawks and have powers), romance, blood, politics. It’s got a lot of elements that make for a good high fantasy story.
    • “Throne of Glass” by Sarah J Maas. This series includes magic, as well, but with a twist: there is something in the land that is preventing magic from flowing on one continent. But among that there are kickass assassin’s, charming princes, loyal guards, sword fights, beings coming to life, witches, demons, faeries, and more. It’s set in a world apart from ours, making it a perfect setting for the story.
    • “The Final Empire” by Brandon Sanderson. I’m not even finished with the first book yet, but I’m already recommending it. This book is phenomenal so far, featuring an interesting cast of characters, a magic system unique in its own way, and a world that is so sad compared to ours. It has enough to keep wanting to draw you in and wanting to read more and more and more. Highly recommend this one.

    Movies

    • Nausicaa: Of the Valley of the Wind: This movie is beautiful and so under appreciated. This is an earlier film of Studio Ghibli’s but it still holds so much magic and wonder in it, with hints of politics, adventure, and more. This movie tells the story of a princess who is desperately trying to save her planet by stopping two warring parties from destroying each other and the planet they live on. It’s a deep and moving story, but it has its fun parts.
    • Avatar. Okay, this movie is phenomenal. I hadn’t seen it in years, but when I watched it recently I loved it just the same, if not more, than when I first saw it. It has beautiful imagery and lands, and it tells a great story about how humans are trying to steal from this planet, but the native people aren’t having it, even if some of the humans “disguise” themselves as natives: the Na’vi.  I highly recommend this one if you’re looking for something with romance, adventure, politics, and cool blue peeps.

    Video Games

    Hey, this is a new category! But I love games, so here we are.

    • Any Final Fantasy game ever. I love, love, LOVE this franchise so much: the stories are always amazing, the worlds are gorgeous beyond belief, and the characters are always unique and different from one another. I highly recommend any of the FF games to anyone. If you’re wondering, I’m currently replaying through FFXIII (I never actually finished it the first time around, but that’s a different story). Mind you, these games are extremely time consuming, so just be prepared for that.
    • Kingdom Hearts. I LOVE THIS GAME SO MUCH. I’m a major Disney fan, so when I first played these games years ago, I fell in love. It has fun, it has Disney, it has awesome characters, unique monsters, cool stuff. Just go play it. Right now. Go.
    • Ni no Kuni. This is a cute middle grade type game where it has so much adventure, a neat magic system, boss battles, and so much more. Yes, this may be tailored toward the tween/young teen age group, but I think anyone that enjoys RPG games will enjoy this one.

    So there you have it! I could think of a crap ton of fantasy titles, but thinking of high fantasy specifically was a lot harder to do, but I managed to narrow it down! So yes, I recommend these cool things to you peeps; really, any age group can enjoy these as long as you have the desire to. Definitely give them a try if you haven’t yet!

  • Book Clubs: Yea or Nay?

    So I’ve been wondering about this for a while: are book clubs really worth it?

    I was sort of part of one as was required by a class I took in college (and even then I barely participated), and it was definitely interesting and everything, but I just felt that if I were to participate in one outside of a required club that it would be very difficult to keep up with.

    So, here are some of my personal thoughts – the pros and cons – about book clubs:

    Pros

    • You get to read a common book with multiple people. Now whether this book is something you’d desire to read or not is another question entirely, but you get to talk about books with people! As a book person, that’s always exciting because then you can get ALL YOUR FEELS out.
    • You can have fun/grueling discussions. Now some people might not care for this, but I find that having discussions about a book can really open someone’s eyes to certain conflicts or areas of interest that might otherwise have not been thought of before. I love that everyone has their own opinion and it’s okay to share whatever you want with the group.
    • Snacks. Because, duh.
    • Friends! Maybe your small group of four friends wants to make a book club and then they each invite one or two of their friends, and then you just have this big ol’ group talking about books for an hour or two. I’d say that’s a win-win.
    • You get one more book for your shelf. I don’t know about you, but I love having my book collection, so adding one more to my shelf makes me happy.

    Cons

    • Time restraints. A lot of people, depending on your age, have day jobs that they have to attend and then have very little energy or desire to do anything after working all day, so finding the time to get a large group of people together can be quite the challenge.
    • Conflicting opinions. Now, there’s nothing wrong with someone liking/disliking a book, but when it becomes heated then there’s definitely a problem. Some people can become passionate about their opinions one way or another and so this can prove difficult and awkward for many of the people around.
    • Reading a book you have no interest in. Even if the whole group votes for the same book, once you start it and you can’t get into it, but everyone else does, you then feel like you have to force yourself to read this horrible piece of work.
    • Coming up with questions. When it’s your turn to ask the questions, you might be thinking to yourself, “Are my questions going to make sense? Will anyone answer? Wasn’t this question already asked before?” It can be difficult to come up with unique questions depending on the plot of the book, especially if a scene or chapter is slow or not progressive.
    • Commitment issues. Okay, so this might be a “me” problem, but I do have commitment issues with some things and I feel like this could be one of them. People have lives outside of the club and so it’s understand if they miss a few chapters here and there, but if it’s consistent then you really have to consider whether or not you should keep it going.

    Okay, so, these seem kind of silly, but they’re also pretty valid. I’ve been thinking about starting a book club, either with friends in my personal life or people on the internet, but I’m not sure how well it’d go down.

    Book clubs: fun, engaging, kind of like a mini-party for book peeps, but they can also be time consuming, difficult to plan, and hard to stick with.

    So, what are your thoughts? Yea or nay? Let me know down below your opinions on book clubs and if you’d be willing to start one near you.

  • Let’s Talk Shadowhunters

    I meant to do a lot more posts than just this one and the first one I did, but oh well!

    So we have the full cast of Shadowhunters, the TV show that’ll take place on ABC Family starting in 2016 of Cassandra Clare‘s The Mortal Instruments series, and I couldn’t be more excited! We’ve had updates from the very beginning on who was being cast as who, photos of the shoots, fun photos by the cast, and so much more. They’re taking the fans into consideration during this whole process and I, for one, couldn’t be happier.

    Well, I could if the show started to air now, but that’s not going to happen.

    Anyway, let’s talk about the rest of the cast!

    Katherine McNamara as Clary Fray

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    Our main heroine was cast and I think she was definitely the biggest concern for a lot of fans. I’ve seen her act in the Disney Channel movie Girl vs Monster and I thought she did pretty well as a “villain” type, but I think she’ll be able to do so much better as a hero. She is a natural red head, but she was blond beforehand so she did have to have it dyed back, and I frankly think she really looks the part of Clary. We’ve seen photos from the set and from what I’ve seen so far she looks promising as our main girl.

    Matthew Daddario as Alec Lightwood

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    Okay, I’m still getting used to him being Alec, and I’m sure he’ll do a good job, but there’s just something about him that doesn’t fit for me. BUT ANYWAY. I’ve seen some screenshots and a few scenes where we can hear him talk or act and I think he’ll make a good Alec: quiet, yet protective, and always trying to be the logical one. I haven’t seen anything he’s been in, but I’m still interested to see how he plays our underrated hero.

    Isaiah Mustafa as Luke Garroway

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    I love that Luke is being played as a person of color. Seriously. This excites me. We don’t have many descriptions of what Luke actually looks like other than his scruffy beard and wild hair, so I mean, Mustafa has the beard part down! So it works! I don’t think I’ve seen any of the movies he’s acted in, but I think he’s going to make a great Luke. From the pictures I’ve seen, he’s a big goofball, which fits.

    Harry Shum Jr. as Magnus Bane

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    YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW EXCITED I AM FOR THIS. I’ve seen a bunch of the films and TV shows Shum has been in and OMG I CAN’T WAIT. He’s a great actor with a great set of moves, for one thing. Plus he obviously looks the part because Magnus is at least half-Asian. I’ve seen pictures of him as Magnus, with makeup and everything, and I think he’ll play a magnificent warlock.

    Alan Van Sprang as Valentine Morgenstern

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    As I’ve seen him act in Reign, I know that he plays a good villain. He’s got the right look for one and I think that he’ll do Valentine justice for sure. Sure, he doesn’t have the same golden locks that Valentine has (or at least what I pictured him to have), but I do think he looks the part of a strong, slightly crazed, man who has made everyone’s life a living hell. Don’t you think?

    Maxim Roy as Jocelyn Fray

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    Hey, it’s Clary’s mom! And let me tell you, the actresses are adorable together. Though she’ll be absent for most of the series, I’m sure, I think she still has a lot of potential and I’m interested to see how she acts on camera with Katherine, to see if they have chemistry as mother and daughter and whatnot.

    And then we have a few other characters who were given actors including: Jon Cor as Hodge (as George Takei would say: oh myyy); David Castro as Raphael Santiago, the resident vampire; Kaitlyn Leeb as Camielle Belcourt, the very powerful, lovely vampire; and Jade Hassoune as Meliorn, the Seelie Queen’s loyal faerie knight.

    I’m excited for this cast, and I love that the director, McG, always shares photos and updates with the fans because, well, what director does that?

    From what I’ve seen so far the show looks promising and I really hope that all of this hype and whatnot doesn’t let the fans down.

    Also, Entertainment Weekly dropped this article giving us AND EXCLUSIVE LOOK with more pictures into the show and OMG I DIED.

    Are you excited for the show? What are your thoughts so far? Do you think they’ll do it justice or will it flop? Let me know your thoughts!