Hey everyone, and welcome to another Top Ten Tuesday hosted by Jana of That Artsy Reader Girl. Today’s topic is about books I’ve read and loved but never actually reviewed. So for this topic we’re going waaaay back before I ever had this blog, because ever since I started I pretty much review (almost) everything I read at some point. So let’s go back in time, shall we?
I know I bring this book up a lot, but I really loved it when I read it as a teen. The story, atmosphere, emotions behind it and that I felt throughout reading it are something that still stick with me to this day. I hope to reread it eventually, though, and then I can give a review for it now as an adult!
Another book I read as a teen and fell in love with! It’s a story about werewolves and romance and angst, I mean… c’mon. I also saw the movie adaptation of it and… was not happy with it. Do not recommend the movie, even as a standalone if you haven’t read the book.
You bet your butt that I jumped on the Vampire Diaries train after the hype of Twilight. I loved this series a lot! The romance, the drama, the angst, the vampires! What’s not to love? I never watched the series adaptation for the STUPIDEST reason: the main female lead is supposed to be blond, not brunette. I KNOW. STUPID. Whatever lol I feel like I’ll have to reread this series again someday.
I read this for a project in freshman year of high school, and it was a tough read. I didn’t realize at the time that it’s a memoir, but I do remember how impacted and shocked I was by it and how family can be so cruel sometimes. This is another one I want to reread eventually.
I’ve talked a lot about this book on my blog over the years, but I have yet to reread it and review it. It was a book I read over summer reading and ACTUALLY enjoyed (because summer reading suuuuucked back in the day with choices that actually fit kids my age). And it was also the one year we didn’t have to do a book report or something related to it and I remember being pissed about that. XD “I did the summer reading for once and can’t do anything about it!?”
Anyway, I loved the story of this book about a young woman who’s a ghost that takes over someone’s body who isn’t really occupying their body, and how she falls in love with another ghost in another guy’s body… it’s a good story! One to reread for sure.
5. Manga. So much manga.
I’ve been an avid reader of manga since I was a preteen, even though it kind of dwindled a bit through my college years and for a few years after that. I don’t read as much manga anymore, but what I have read before was always fun to read! I was always engrossed in the worlds and characters and art styles.
Some series I recommend: Alice 19th, Fruits Basket, Tsubaki Chou Lonely Planet, and Chobits.
With the recent release of Midnight Sun, which is Twilight from Edward’s POV (and you know I definitely preordered and decided I’m reading for Tome Topple round 12), I had to talk about the Twilight saga. This series meant the world to me as a teenager. The writing, the story, the characters, etc. drew me in and hooked me from page one. It has a special place in my heart, for sure, and I think I feel the nostalgia a lot of people would feel toward something like Harry Potter or Percy Jackson. I mean, Twilight is the only book I’ve read four or five times from cover to cover, which is a lot for someone who doesn’t reread often.
Another angsty teen romance that came out around the time Twilight was big, I was all over this book, too! The first two books, in particular, were the ones I loved, and then I don’t think I ever finished the third because I think I didn’t like the way it was turning out. I’m not sure, but I do remember really liking the whole falling angel falling in the love thing.
I was LIVID in freshman year of high school when my parents wouldn’t let me read this because of the VERY MINIMAL sex scene in it (when I had read various other things with sex and crap by that point) and got stuck reading The Life of Pi (which I hated because it was boring and I was just mad lol). So once I actually did read it a year or so later (or however later it was), I fell in love with it! I loved the setting and the characters and just reading something different from what we were reading in school. It’s a great story of love, loss, family, and what it means to be who you are.
I talked about this in another Top Ten Tuesday post, but I never finished the third book in the initial trilogy. I read this soon after reading Tithe by Holly Black (and loving it), and found myself on a kick of wanting to read fey books. This was a different tale about an iron kingdom and how the iron was making the lands of the fey die away. I really enjoyed the first two books in the series and need to give this a go again.
What kinds of books have you read that you loved by never reviewed? What book would you recommend to me from that list? Have you read any of the ones on my list and enjoyed them? Let me know!
Hello everyone! I hope you’re all doing well on this fine Tuesday. Today is another Top Ten Tuesday post, hosted by Jana of That Artsy Reader Girl. Today’s topic is about books with colors in the title! I think this is a fun, chill topic, so let’s jump into some books that I own (or have read) with colors in their titles.
I’m challenging to pick only books that I or my husband own, so let’s see what I can come up with!
10. City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty
Nahri has never believed in magic. Certainly, she has power; on the streets of 18th century Cairo, she’s a con woman of unsurpassed talent. But she knows better than anyone that the trade she uses to get by—palm readings, zars, healings—are all tricks, sleights of hand, learned skills; a means to the delightful end of swindling Ottoman nobles.
But when Nahri accidentally summons an equally sly, darkly mysterious djinn warrior to her side during one of her cons, she’s forced to accept that the magical world she thought only existed in childhood stories is real. For the warrior tells her a new tale: across hot, windswept sands teeming with creatures of fire, and rivers where the mythical marid sleep; past ruins of once-magnificent human metropolises, and mountains where the circling hawks are not what they seem, lies Daevabad, the legendary city of brass, a city to which Nahri is irrevocably bound.
In that city, behind gilded brass walls laced with enchantments, behind the six gates of the six djinn tribes, old resentments are simmering. And when Nahri decides to enter this world, she learns that true power is fierce and brutal. That magic cannot shield her from the dangerous web of court politics. That even the cleverest of schemes can have deadly consequences.
After all, there is a reason they say be careful what you wish for…
I have yet to read this book that I’ve heard nothing but good things about, but brass is in the title of it! Brass is like a gold/brown kind of color, and was the first book that came to mind.
9. Orange by Ichigo Takano
A Plea From the Future
On the day that Naho begins 11th grade, she receives a letter from herself ten years in the future. At first, she writes it off as a prank, but as the letter’s predictions come true one by one, Naho realizes that the letter might be the real deal. Her future self tells Naho that a new transfer student, a boy named Kakeru, will soon join her class. The letter begs Naho to watch over him, saying that only Naho can save Kakeru from a terrible future. Who is this mystery boy, and can Naho save him from his destiny? This is the heart-wrenching sci-fi romance that has over million copies in print in Japan!
I mean, how much more obvious could it had been? A great manga series that touches on friendship, suicide, depression, and much more.
8. Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore
Eight years have passed since the young Princess Bitterblue, and her country, were saved from the vicious King Leck. Now Bitterblue is the queen of Monsea, and her land is at peace.
But the influence of her father, a violent psychopath with mind-altering abilities, lives on. Her advisers, who have run the country on her behalf since Leck’s death, believe in a forward-thinking plan: to pardon all of those who committed terrible acts during Leck’s reign; and to forget every dark event that ever happened. Monsea’s past has become shrouded in mystery, and it’s only when Bitterblue begins sneaking out of her castle – curious, disguised and alone – to walk the streets of her own city, that she begins to realise the truth. Her kingdom has been under the thirty-five-year long spell of a madman, and now their only chance to move forward is to revisit the past.
Whatever that past holds.
Two thieves, who have sworn only to steal what has already been stolen, change her life forever. They hold a key to the truth of Leck’s reign. And one of them, who possesses an unidentified Grace, may also hold a key to her heart…
This is the third book in a companion trilogy, which I have not read yet, but blue is in the title!
7. Blue Exorcist by Kazue Kato
Raised by Father Fujimoto, a famous exorcist, Rin Okumura never knew his real father. One day a fateful argument with Father Fujimoto forces Rin to face a terrible truth – the blood of the demon lord Satan runs in Rin’s veins! Rin swears to defeat Satan, but doing that means entering the mysterious True Cross Academy and becoming an exorcist himself. Can Rin fight demons and keep his infernal bloodline a secret? It won’t be easy, especially when drawing his father’s sword releases the demonic power within him!
More blue in this one! This is a great shounen manga series with lots of action and comedy. It’s also an anime!
6. Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater
It is freezing in the churchyard, even before the dead arrive.
Every year, Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue herself never sees them—not until this year, when a boy emerges from the dark and speaks directly to her.
His name is Gansey, and Blue soon discovers that he is a rich student at Aglionby, the local private school. Blue has a policy of staying away from Aglionby boys. Known as Raven Boys, they can only mean trouble.
But Blue is drawn to Gansey, in a way she can’t entirely explain. He has it all—family money, good looks, devoted friends—but he’s looking for much more than that. He is on a quest that has encompassed three other Raven Boys: Adam, the scholarship student who resents all the privilege around him; Ronan, the fierce soul who ranges from anger to despair; and Noah, the taciturn watcher of the four, who notices many things but says very little.
For as long as she can remember, Blue has been warned that she will cause her true love to die. She never thought this would be a problem. But now, as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she’s not so sure anymore.
^Excerpt from The Raven Boys so as to not spoil this third book in this series. I feel like blue is a very easy color to pick to be in titles, not gonna lie.
5. The Color Project by Sierra Abrams
Bernice Aurora Wescott has one thing she doesn’t want anyone to know: her name. That is, until Bee meets Levi, the local golden boy who runs a charity organization called The Color Project.
Levi is not at all shy about attempting to guess Bee’s real name; his persistence is one of the many reasons why Bee falls for him. But while Levi is everything she never knew she needed, giving up her name would feel like a stamp on forever. And that terrifies her.
When unexpected news of an illness in the family drains Bee’s summer of everything bright, she is pushed to the breaking point. Losing herself in The Color Project—a world of weddings, funerals, cancer patients, and hopeful families that the charity funds—is no longer enough. Bee must hold up the weight of her family, but to do that, she needs Levi. She’ll have to give up her name and let him in completely or lose the best thing that’s ever happened to her.
I mean… it literally has the word “color” in it, sooooooo…. lol I have yet to read this book that my friend wrote, but I hope to sometime this year!
4. Red, White, and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston
First Son Alex Claremont-Diaz is the closest thing to a prince this side of the Atlantic. With his intrepid sister and the Veep’s genius granddaughter, they’re the White House Trio, a beautiful millennial marketing strategy for his mother, President Ellen Claremont. International socialite duties do have downsides—namely, when photos of a confrontation with his longtime nemesis Prince Henry at a royal wedding leak to the tabloids and threaten American/British relations.
The plan for damage control: staging a fake friendship between the First Son and the Prince. Alex is busy enough handling his mother’s bloodthirsty opponents and his own political ambitions without an uptight royal slowing him down. But beneath Henry’s Prince Charming veneer, there’s a soft-hearted eccentric with a dry sense of humor and more than one ghost haunting him.
As President Claremont kicks off her reelection bid, Alex finds himself hurtling into a secret relationship with Henry that could derail the campaign and upend two nations. And Henry throws everything into question for Alex, an impulsive, charming guy who thought he knew everything: What is worth the sacrifice? How do you do all the good you can do? And, most importantly, how will history remember you?
Three colors in the title! A fun new adult contemporary of boys love and identity.
3. The Color Purple by Alice Walker
The Color Purple is a classic. With over a million copies sold in the UK alone, it is hailed as one of the all-time ‘greats’ of literature, inspiring generations of readers.
Set in the deep American South between the wars, it is the tale of Celie, a young black girl born into poverty and segregation. Raped repeatedly by the man she calls ‘father’, she has two children taken away from her, is separated from her beloved sister Nettie and is trapped into an ugly marriage. But then she meets the glamorous Shug Avery, singer and magic-maker – a woman who has taken charge of her own destiny. Gradually, Celie discovers the power and joy of her own spirit, freeing her from her past and reuniting her with those she loves.
It has the words “color” and “purple” in it, so double win right here! I haven’t read this book yet, but one day I will!
2. Shattered Blue by Lauren Bird Horowitz
For Noa and Callum, being together is dangerous, even deadly. From the start, sixteen-year-old Noa senses that the mysterious transfer student to her Monterey boarding school is different. Callum unnerves and intrigues her, and even as she struggles through family tragedy, she’s irresistibly drawn to him. Soon they are bound by his deepest secret: Callum is Fae, banished from another world after a loss hauntingly similar to her own.
But in Noa’s world, Callum needs a special human energy, Light, to survive; his body steals it through touch—or a kiss. And Callum’s not the only Fae on the hunt. When Callum is taken, Noa must decide: Will she sacrifice everything to save him? Even if it means learning their love may not be what she thought?
So much blue! I bought this book on kindle so long ago that I keep forgetting I have it. Whoops.
1. The Bronze Horseman by Paulina Simons
The golden skies, the translucent twilight, the white nights, all hold the promise of youth, of love, of eternal renewal. The war has not yet touched this city of fallen grandeur, or the lives of two sisters, Tatiana and Dasha Metanova, who share a single room in a cramped apartment with their brother and parents. Their world is turned upside down when Hitler’s armies attack Russia and begin their unstoppable blitz to Leningrad.
Yet there is light in the darkness. Tatiana meets Alexander, a brave young officer in the Red Army. Strong and self-confident, yet guarding a mysterious and troubled past, he is drawn to Tatiana—and she to him. Starvation, desperation, and fear soon grip their city during the terrible winter of the merciless German siege. Tatiana and Alexander’s impossible love threatens to tear the Metanova family apart and expose the dangerous secret Alexander so carefully protects—a secret as devastating as the war itself—as the lovers are swept up in the brutal tides that will change the world and their lives forever.
Another of the metal colors, bronze is also a gold/brown color, but not as coppery as brass. I have yet to read this, but it’s been on my kindle for years and years, so one day I will.
I’m actually amazed I had ten books with some variation of colors (or the word “color”) in their titles. I also have “The Astonishing Color of After” by Emily X.R. Pan on my kindle as an honorable mention since I didn’t have enough spots here.
What books do you have with colors in the title? Did you have to dig like I did to find them?
So I know it’s Thursday, but I meant to do a post for TTT this week, I just completely forgot what day it was, so here we are!
If you don’t know what Top Ten Tuesday is, it’s a weekly meme hosted by Jana of That Artsy Reader Girl where you talk about your top ten ____ for that week. This week’s topic was a freebie, so we could create our own or go through the archives of TTT and pick one from there.
Today I wanted to talk about ten books/series I hope to reread over time for either nostalgia reasons, because I want to, or because I’m horrible at finishing series and need to reread because I forgot everything that happened.
Let’s jump into it! These are in no particular order.
10. Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas
After serving out a year of hard labor in the salt mines of Endovier for her crimes, 18-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien is dragged before the Crown Prince. Prince Dorian offers her her freedom on one condition: she must act as his champion in a competition to find a new royal assassin.
Her opponents are men-thieves and assassins and warriors from across the empire, each sponsored by a member of the king’s council. If she beats her opponents in a series of eliminations, she’ll serve the kingdom for four years and then be granted her freedom. Celaena finds her training sessions with the captain of the guard, Westfall, challenging and exhilarating. But she’s bored stiff by court life. Things get a little more interesting when the prince starts to show interest in her … but it’s the gruff Captain Westfall who seems to understand her best.
Then one of the other contestants turns up dead … quickly followed by another. Can Celaena figure out who the killer is before she becomes a victim? As the young assassin investigates, her search leads her to discover a greater destiny than she could possibly have imagined.
It’s no secret that I’m a fan of the ToG series, and I recently started rereading the series because I never finished the last two books due to life a few years ago. And let me tell you, I want to punch Celaena in the face to get rid of some of that arrogance she has, but I also know the series will pick up and evolve as it goes. It’s really interesting to reread this and see how I view it now versus then. But I hope to continue with and actually finish the series this time!
9. A Court of Thorns and Roses trilogy by Sarah J. Maas
Feyre’s survival rests upon her ability to hunt and kill – the forest where she lives is a cold, bleak place in the long winter months. So when she spots a deer in the forest being pursued by a wolf, she cannot resist fighting it for the flesh. But to do so, she must kill the predator and killing something so precious comes at a price …
Dragged to a magical kingdom for the murder of a faerie, Feyre discovers that her captor, his face obscured by a jewelled mask, is hiding far more than his piercing green eyes would suggest. Feyre’s presence at the court is closely guarded, and as she begins to learn why, her feelings for him turn from hostility to passion and the faerie lands become an even more dangerous place. Feyre must fight to break an ancient curse, or she will lose him forever.
Much like ToG, I never finished the last book in this trilogy because it came out right around the time where life really sucked and my reading habits plummeted, so I want to reread the first two books in order to read the third (and the novella). I’m also rereading these series because, well, they were some of my favorites when I read them, and also because I want to read them before reading Crescent City. I’ll get there eventually!
8. The Iron Fey series by Julie Kagawa
Meghan Chase has a secret destiny; one she could never have imagined.
Something has always felt slightly off in Meghan’s life, ever since her father disappeared before her eyes when she was six. She has never quite fit in at school or at home.
When a dark stranger begins watching her from afar, and her prankster best friend becomes strangely protective of her, Meghan senses that everything she’s known is about to change.
But she could never have guessed the truth – that she is the daughter of a mythical faery king and is a pawn in a deadly war. Now Meghan will learn just how far she’ll go to save someone she cares about, to stop a mysterious evil, no faery creature dare face; and to find love with a young prince who might rather see her dead than let her touch his icy heart.
I started these a millennia ago, and, like every series on here, I am horrible at finishing reading the last book. I LOVED the first two books with all my heart when I read them, and I got through part of The Iron Queen before putting it down and never picking it back up. It wasn’t bad; my interest at the time just shifted and changed. So I hope to reread this trilogy (and the other novellas and others in this series eventually), and finally know what happens! Seriously, if you like fey, read these books. They’re quite good!
7. The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer
The first book in the Lunar Chronicles series by Marissa Meyer! See where the futuristic YA fairytale saga all began, with the tale of a teenage cyborg who must fight for Earth’s survival against villains from outer space.
Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl. . . .
Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.
With high-stakes action and a smart, resourceful heroine, Cinder is a Cinderella retelling that is at once classic and strikingly original.
Do I even need to say by now that I never finished this series? However, unlike the previous series I’ve mentioned where I never read the final book, this series in particular is one where I never finished the last TWO books. Ugh, I’m horrible. This was a series that was so hyped, and I remember not liking Cinder a lot (it was good, just not my favorite), loving Scarlet, and really enjoying Cress, but I just. Never. Continued. I think this was, again, around the same time where things in life got hard so I just didn’t finish. But I want to! I really do! One day~ *shakes fist determinedly*
6. The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer
At his coming-of-age party, Matteo Alacrán asks El Patrón’s bodyguard, “How old am I?…I know I don’t have a birthday like humans, but I was born.”
“You were harvested,” Tam Lin reminds him. “You were grown in that poor cow for nine months and then you were cut out of her.”
To most people around him, Matt is not a boy, but a beast. A room full of chicken litter with roaches for friends and old chicken bones for toys is considered good enough for him. But for El Patrón, lord of a country called Opium—a strip of poppy fields lying between the U.S. and what was once called Mexico—Matt is a guarantee of eternal life. El Patrón loves Matt as he loves himself for Matt is himself. They share identical DNA.
I read this book (for fun, I think) way back in my early-mid high school days and remember loving it SO so much. It made me creeped out, angry, shocked, and just a whole lot of emotions. I’ve been meaning to reread this one for years, and I hope to get to it soon. I mean, if you can remember how a book made you feel almost 15 years later, I’d say it’s in need of a reread, right? I wonder if I’ll still feel the same way or not.
5. The Unicorns of Balinor series by Mary Stanton
Introducing a new fantasy series about a girl, her unicorn, and her quest to restore peace in Balinor. After a terrible riding accident, Ari cannot remember anything of her past and is sent to live on a farm with foster parents. What Ari doesn’t know is that she is not from our world, but from Balinor, a land of sorcerers and unicorns! Her parents, the King and Queen, sent her to Earth to protect her from a raging war before they were banished from their homeland. Now Ari–Princess Arianna–has found the road back to Balinor. As she struggles to remember her heritage, she must face the challenge of restoring peace to Balinor.
This is purely for nostalgic reasons (and because I never read the last book. Shocker.) but this kids story about a girl and her unicorn friend were magical when I read them as a teenager (I had owned them for years and never read them until my teens). They’re super short books – about 120-ish pages each – with big font, and there’s eight of them, so I think these will be super fast nostalgia reads that I can’t wait to get to!
4. Fushigi Yuugi by Yuu Watase
When best friends Miaka and Yui open the pages of an ancient Chinese book, they are transported into the Universe of the Four Gods, a parallel world to ancient China. Now, to escape schoolwork and family problems, Miaka flees to the parallel world, only to find a lot more danger and romance than she bargained for.
A series I’ve actually finished before! Wow! This manga series is one I read in my teen years and fell in love with. I’ve been slowly rereading it for the last year or so maybe, and wow did I forget a lot, but also wow, is it cheesy lol But I love it because it brings back a lot of great memories I have with this series. There’s 18 volumes total and I’ve reread the first five already, so I’ll continue my reread over time.
3. The Illuminae Files by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff
Kady thought breaking up with Ezra was the worst thing she’d ever been through. That was before her planet was invaded. Now, with enemy fire raining down on them, Kady and Ezra are forced to fight their way onto one of the evacuating craft, with an enemy warship in hot pursuit.
But the warship could be the least of their problems. A deadly plague has broken out and is mutating, with terrifying results; the fleet’s AI, which should be protecting them, may actually be their biggest threat; and nobody in charge will say what’s really going on. As Kady plunges into a web of data hacking to get to the truth, it’s clear only one person can help her bring it all to light: Ezra.
Told through a fascinating dossier of hacked documents—including emails, schematics, military files, IMs, medical reports, interviews, and more—Illuminae is the first book in a heart-stopping, high-octane trilogy about lives interrupted, the price of truth, and the courage of everyday heroes.
I. Love. This. Trilogy. So. Much. I love the mixed media of story telling, and as a visual learner type of person, seeing the different forms of media really engaged me while I was reading. I thought each book held its own unique magic in this otherwise very stressful and scary situation that everyone went through. I want to reread this trilogy just for the pure pleasure of it.
2. The Daughter of Smoke and Bones trilogy by Laini Taylor
Around the world, black hand prints are appearing on doorways, scorched there by winged strangers who have crept through a slit in the sky.
In a dark and dusty shop, a devil’s supply of human teeth grows dangerously low.
And in the tangled lanes of Prague, a young art student is about to be caught up in a brutal otherworldly war.
Meet Karou. She fills her sketchbooks with monsters that may or may not be real, she’s prone to disappearing on mysterious “errands”, she speaks many languages – not all of them human – and her bright blue hair actually grows out of her head that color. Who is she? That is the question that haunts her, and she’s about to find out.
When beautiful, haunted Akiva fixes fiery eyes on her in an alley in Marrakesh, the result is blood and starlight, secrets unveiled, and a star-crossed love whose roots drink deep of a violent past. But will Karou live to regret learning the truth about herself?
This trilogy was everything to me when I read it. I love Laini Taylor’s writing and how she can make sentences so beautiful. But this trilogy had a great love story of star-crossed lovers, of an age-old war, of finding oneself, and so much more. I want to reread it just for the sheer joy of it, and I hope to do it soon (after I read Muse of Nightmares, of course).
1 . The Remnant Chronicles by Mary E. Pearson
In a society steeped in tradition, Princess Lia’s life follows a preordained course. As First Daughter, she is expected to have the revered gift of sight—but she doesn’t—and she knows her parents are perpetrating a sham when they arrange her marriage to secure an alliance with a neighboring kingdom—to a prince she has never met.
On the morning of her wedding, Lia flees to a distant village. She settles into a new life, hopeful when two mysterious and handsome strangers arrive—and unaware that one is the jilted prince and the other an assassin sent to kill her. Deception abounds, and Lia finds herself on the brink of unlocking perilous secrets—even as she finds herself falling in love.
Again…never finished this trilogy. I think when I read the first book on audio, and then the second book physically, I lost the magic of it. I remember not feeling engaged or intrigued enough in the story, but I think I can remedy this by reading all of the books on audio the second time around.
And there you have it! There’s some of the series/books I want to reread! I’ve mentioned a lot of these in pasts posts similar to this one, but since I have yet to reread them, this still rings true.
What are some books or series you want to reread? Do you reread books at all? If you do, is it purely for nostalgia or something else?
Oh hey, how’s it going? I haven’t done a TTT in a long while, but I thought, hey, I want to pick up blogging again, so why not do a TTT post once in a while?
If you don’t know what Top Ten Tuesday is, it’s a weekly event across book blogs, vlogs, etc., where we discuss our top ten of the topic picked for that week. It was originally started on The Broke and the Bookish, but has since moved to That Artsy Reader Girl.
This week’s topic is all about bookish discoveries that I made in 2019, from authors to blogs, books to bookish merch. Here’s my top ten from last year.
10. Reading Planner
I had set up a reading planner for a few months and found it to be really fun, but hard to keep up with (I love the idea of planners, but using them? That’s a whole other story lol). So actually, for this year, I ordered the reading planner from Owlcrate and I can’t wait to use it! (Not sponsored!)
9. Leigh Bardugo’s King of Scars Book Signing
I did a whole post on this book signing event, but it was so much fun! I always love going into Boston and exploring, especially when I go to my favorite independent bookstore, Brookline Booksmith. There’s such a calming yet fun atmosphere there. For the event there were several activities to do while waiting for Leigh to talk, and when she did she was so super funny! It was a great time despite the weather.
8. The Way of Kings by Brandson Sanderson audiobook is amazing
2019 was the year I finally finished listening to this audiobook. I had started it YEARS ago, but never got very far in it until I was driving a half hour to and from work every day and realized that sometimes I just didn’t want to listen to music for my commute. Solution? A 45 hour long audiobook filled with amazing characters, great narrators, fantastic and vivid world building, and, of course, a unique magic system that Sanderson is so good at exploring. I can’t wait to continue on to Words of Radiance in audiobook!
7. Libby and My Local Library
Okay, so my local library is really dinky and doesn’t have a huge selection of books that I would personally check out, BUT what’s cool is that I can go to any library in the county and check out books from any of those locations with my card! So cool!
Oh, and as for Libby, which is an app where you enter your location information, as well as your library card information, and you’re able to rent out e-books and audiobooks from your library, I found it to be super useful! I’m going to definitely be using it for my reading challenge this year in case I read some books not already on my shelf that I might not want to purchase just yet.
6. Not Being on Twitter
Okay, this might be a controversial one, but oh well because over the last six months I’ve deactivated Facebook as well as just stopped going onto Twitter, and let me tell you, it’s been doing wonders for my mental health. Twitter (not just book twitter, but the website as a whole) is just full of way too much negativity and I ain’t got time for that when I’m trying to heal from years of numbness and pain, you know? So as much as I miss the connectivity between people sometimes, I also don’t miss the drama and all of the other crap that came along with it.
If you’re finding that there’s too much negativity on any social media space, including around books, I hope you take the time to rest and step back from it for your own mental health.
5. I was featured on Novels & Waffles Bibliosmile Project
Image by Kat @ Novels and Waffles
Kat at Novels and Waffles asked on Twitter (before I left lol) if anyone would be interested in joining in this project, and I talked of my interest and so I was a guest on her blog! In this blog post I talked about five books that have impacted me over the years for one reason or another, so it’s a very sentimental post I wrote.
4. There’s Both Power and Longing in NOT Buying Books
So my husband and I moved from Massachusetts to North Carolina over the summer for a new job for him (which he likes!), and I didn’t have a job lined up. In fact, I only had a seasonal job recently and I still don’t have anything lined up. We’re doing okay, kind of – taking care of the important stuff, of course – and as a result we had to cut out a lot of stuff from our lives. One of them, for me, was book buying. Now, I didn’t stop completely, but I did slow down A LOT. It’s actually been nice to know that my TBR pile didn’t grow for a long time (until I worked this past season at a book store, haha…ha…).
Part of me misses buying books because I’m excited in that moment, but the other part is like, “Girl, you want to unhaul a lot already on your shelves, so how about you focus on that first, yeah?”
3. Donating Books Feels Good
Seriously. There’s something freeing about freeing up space on your shelves. Now, this isn’t a new concept for me that I discovered in 2019 (I think I’ve been doing it since 2017/18), but I wanted to mention it because before we moved I donated another fifty books to my local library – including signed copies that I had gotten from book boxes. I just wasn’t interested in them, and frankly, I’d rather a library have it so others can read them if they want to.
I plan on continuing to donate this year as the need arises, which it probably will. I have some books on my shelves that have been there for years and I know that at this point in time in my life I’m either a) never going to read them, or b) read them and don’t want them on my shelf anymore.
2. My Reading Tastes Are Changing
That’s right! I’m both surprised and not surprised at all, honestly. As I’ve been getting older I’ve been noticing that my reading tastes are starting to gravitate towards older content – aka, not YA or middle grade. Actually, strike the middle grade one because, well, spoilers, I love it so far (thank you Rick Riordan), but as I’m now 28 I want to read more content about characters in my age group (which, for me, is college age to about 35).
This is in no way me dissing YA, by the way. I will absolutely still be reading YA because I still enjoy the genre, but I also find myself wanting to consume more adult and new adult books. This discovery, in particular, felt right to me, and even though I was a little nervous to talk about it, I’m not so much anymore. Anyone else feel this way?
1 . Middle Grade Books are SO FUN
Okay, so I’ve really only read the Percy Jackson series in 2019 (for the first time and I LOVE IT!), but as a way to dip my toes into middle grade? FANTASTIC! I want to spread myself as much as possible in my reading life, and so reading books for younger kids is a great way to do so.
Of all of the bookish discoveries I made in 2019, I think this one is my favorite just because there’s so much to discover in middle grade and to see these books through the eyes of the younger generation. That’s how I see it, at least.
Let’s chat!
What bookish discoveries did you make in 2019? What is your most memorable one? Let me know!
Hey, I haven’t done one of these in a while. Welcome to another Top Ten Tuesday as hosted by the lovely people over at The Broke & the Bookish! Today’s topic is about the things on our reading wishlists that we want to see more of in books, whether that be tropes, types of characters, plots, etc.
1. More hate-to-love relationships. Okay, so, does it make me weird that I really like to read about these kinds of relationships? I think there’s something sweet about them and how it shows how people’s emotions can change and develop over time and with learned trust and respect. I don’t know, there’s just something humbling about it.
2. More relationships that have already started pre-book and continue to be strong throughout the story. I mean, do I really need to explain this one? Because I see a MAJOR lack in this kind of romantic relationship, period.
3. More childhood friendships that either do or don’t turn into romantic relationships. Now I love this kind of trope and think it’s super cute when it’s well done, but I hate it when there’s petty jealousy and all of that crap. But I know that also makes for an angsty story, so…
4. Of course more diversity is always a plus. LGBT+, POC, religious, etc. We all know what I mean.
5. Super cheesy fluff. Okay. I know we all like to read about the super cool hero/ine that goes out and saves the world, but what about those stories that are just feel-good and are about a week in their lives where they just kind of bum around, have funny Snapchat talks with friends, snuggle with their loved one, go on a date… I don’t know, I just want more fluff! Of course this would probably be better as a short story than a full on novel, but still.
6. More books set in other countries other than the US or fantasy worlds! I want to read more about cultures across the world through YA books. If you have any recommendations, please let me know!
7. Show more interactions with the online world. In case you haven’t noticed, you’re currently reading this on the Internet (GASP!), and the sheer lack of technology in many, many, MANY books is unrealistic. I get that there can be problems, but there’s always room to improve and grow in these areas. Many people have a large part of their lives online, so it’s only realistic to include that in books.
8. More adventures and less saving the world. I mean, don’t get me wrong, those books are and always will be awesome, but I’d love to read a super cool adventure story of a group of friends just going out and seeing the world, without having to save it from The Big Bad.
9. More pets! Super cute puppies and kitties and llamas and sheep and horses…. Okay, maybe this one’s just me, lol
10. More healthy family interactions! It’s always SO amazing to see healthy family interactions between teens and their parents or siblings, and I really, really just want to see more of that.
Let’s Chat! ^w^
What’s on your reading wishlist? What more would you like to see of in books? Does anything on my list resonate with you? Let me know!
Reader Rayna 