Day 9: A Book You Thought You Wouldn't Like But Ended Up Loving
What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty
I figured the romance would turn me off but I actually enjoyed it.
Day 8: Most Overrated Book
My opinion seems to be the opposite of everyone else's opinion of this book (series) and maybe I'm a little jaded or maybe I just don't connect with the book in the proper way. I don't know but in my opinion the series is overrated.
Divergent (and Insurgent) by Veronica Roth
Now Roth seems to be a good writer. I liked the first book, but Tris. OMG Tris and Four. I can't. In the first book, Tris started off like she was going to be a strong female character. Then she just...didn't evolve into a pleasing character. Perhaps it falls to the story being drawn out to make three books. Maybe she won't develop from her lack luster status until the last book. I don't know. I will read on to find out. But I did not like her, or Four.
She struck me as really plain (not in appearance like the book describes her) and uninspiring. I felt she was just there. She was just a reaction to the event occurring around her and I did not like her reactions. I mean she did improve from her Abnegation state, but she wasn't as BAMF as I felt she could be given the chance.
Then in Insurgent. SHE WHINED AND WHINED AND WHINED. Oh did I feel no love for her. For someone who is supposed to be special and unique, she showed none of this. None. I felt we were told she was special and then the expectation was that we just accept it.
Just look at one of my status updates. This is how unsympathetic I became to Tris.
And the story dragged on, back and forth, running here and there with no progress. That is until the final showdown. Then things finally progressed and yet, the amount of plot twists left me numbed when the final cliffhanger occurred.
The fighting between Tris and Four was aggravating. They fought and made up over and over. I do not see the appeal of Four. He strikes me as serious but not in the good way. He overreacted to the littlest things. He condemned Tris for the slightest infraction. Here they are in the middle of a revolution, and he is getting mad at her for....breathing funny. (I know that didn't happen but I could see it happening.)
Tris has this obsession with Four that seems to rear its head at the wrong times. You are in the middle of "THE SHIT" and you want to focus on how how your boyfriend looks?
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Day 7: A Book That Makes You Laugh
Sh*t My Dad Says by Justin Halpern
This is written about the comments Halpern's father makes. He has a whole Twitter devoted to them. His dad and my dad would get along very, very well. Well maybe not. Halpern's dad seems to be witty and insightful, my dad just talks to pillows and thinks a strange man has broken into the bathroom each time he sees his reflection in the mirror......yea......
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Back in May 2012, I picked up Sarah Cross' Kill Me Softly from my local library.
Kill Me Softly was about a girl named Mira who runs away to the town of her birth. That town just happens to be inhabited by people from fairytales. I enjoyed that story well enough and rated it 3 stars on GR. (See Review)
While looking through books I have read in the past year, I came upon Kill Me Softly. And I wondered what else Sarah Cross had written. Then I discovered this short story related to Kill Me Softly and the fairytale town of Beau Rivage. (If you want to download and read it, Cross has the story available on her site. Here)
This short story was about the Cinderella Curse. I found it entertaining and liked that characters a lot. It plays out like a modern version of Cinderella. Except Dusty (Cinderella) doesn't really like Max (Prince Charming), well she likes him but she doesn't want to be with him.?!?! I can totally understand that, dude tells me he loves me after dancing with him three nights in a row, I'm gonna give him some side-eye as well.
But anyways it was a pretty good story and I wish Cross would write more. I'm looking for her book Dull Boy because it seems like it would be interesting.
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Day 6: A Book That Makes You Sad
I can't say a lot of books have made me sad. I tend to stay away from really sad books and I don't really cry that easily over books or movies or TV shows. My husband says it is because I'm cold-hearted inside. Who knows maybe I am. I can think of two books though that made me a little heartbroken for the characters.
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce
I received an ARC of this from First Reads on GR. I don't read "adult" books that often but the summary sounded interesting and I have always wanted to go to England, so I was like...what the heck.
I ended up really liking this book and wanting a finished copy, which I didn't get cause my hubby said "You already have a copy". Non-book people...ugh. So I have been cherishing my ARC.
This is about an older gentleman who receives a letter from an old friend, she is dying. So he sets out to mail a return letter...and starts walking...keeps walking...walking....walking. Harold and his wife have had a certain, tension present in their home life since something bad happened years ago. I felt sad for Harold and his wife, Maureen, after I found out "the thing". And I felt bad for Harold to be walking across England. I mean this isn't a young spring chicken of a man. This is a man who has lived his life and is set to carry out his days in a calm, comfortable manner. Yet the motivation to walk appears and all the trouble he endures.
It was nominated for the Man Booker Prize last year (2012) I think, I hope I'm not the only one who felt a little sad for Harold and his journey.
Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
This is about a teen girl who commits suicide. And it was heartbreaking. Really the events that lead her to giving up were saddening. I can't really say much more about this, I don't want to give anything away. But I have been in her shoes before, it is hard to keep going. Really hard.
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Day 5: A Book That Makes You Happy
I'm not going to go with any deep meaningful and inspiring books. Those are great and all, but they are not the books that make me my happiest.
Beauty Queens by Libba Bray
Actually the audiobook version. It was funny and I laughed. I LOVED MoMo B. ChaCha. His obsession with Elvis and infatuation with Ladybird were some of the best parts. Basically the book is about beauty pageant contestants that are stranded on an island after the plane crashes. Lots of funny moments. Like Lord of the Flies meets Drop Dead Gorgeous.
Stardust by Neil Gaiman
This book always takes me to another world. I usually don't come back to reality until after I have finished it. And I love the movie as well, even if some parts were changed, it still works. Plus..Michelle Pfeiffer is HOT. Robert De Niro plays a cross-dressing pirate named Shakespeare. And a 90+ year old man does some killer fighting. But the book...when I read it I UNDERSTOOD why Gaiman was so popular and well respected.
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I just want to say one of the features I like about BookLikes is the ability to sort my shelves based on exclusive status and personal shelf status
Example: Say I wanted to find which books I have read that I categorize as Fairytales.
I can click the READ exclusive shelf.
Then I can click the Fairytales shelf.
Now I have all the books I have read which I shelved as Fairytales.
And I can click Favorite, Wishlist, Reviewed, or Private to sort them further.
I really think this is a good feature.
Day 4: Favorite Book of Your Favorite Series
It is a hard choice between all the books in the Harry Potter series but I would have to say my favorite is Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.
*Possible SPOILERS for those who haven't read this book*
There are several reasons why I liked this book more than the others. HPHBP was the point when things really started to get heated up.
We learned about Tom Riddle's childhood and backstory leading to his eventual morph into Lord Voldemort, plus the similarities between Riddle and Harry's life.
We didn't have to put up with Umbridge anymore....oh how I hated her.
Slughorn was teaching Potions and throwing parties with his Slug Club,
Ron finds himself a girlfriend, who proceeds to suck his face off and give him really annoying nicknames.
They actually would have made a very pretty baby.
And one of my final reasons, Poor Draco can't do anything right. Each time he tries to do "the thing" he ends up failing miserably, winds up hurt thanks to Harry, spends nearly his entire 6th year alone and miserable.
Me too Draco...Me too.
My least favorite part of the book was of course the ending. But it had to be done. I totally understand that.....but it was just so heartbreaking.
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Day 3: Your Favorite Series
This is an EASY answer.
Harry Potter
I discovered Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in my library some time in my later teens (1999 or 2000 or maybe early 2001). I was looking for something fun and simple to read in the limited choices for teens. (I came from a small town and they didn't have the widest selection for young adults, not bashing just stating a fact.) I did not know that 13 years later I would still be so in love with this series and would see it turned into eight movies, two (or is it three?) musical parodies, countless fanfictions, video games (which I have Lego Harry Potter: Years 5-7), a theme park expansion, AND A WEBSITE...almost forgot that.
I had no idea this book that I chose because it looked so simple to read would become the sensation we have today. By the time I read it, HPSS was on the New York Times Best Seller's List, which is probably why my library chose the book. For a teen in a small Southern town before wide spread internet take over, best seller lists consisted of my library setting up a table with a bunch of adult books and a few children's books thrown in haphazardly just to be ignored by patrons. So glad I paid attention that day.
TLDR Version: Harry Potter is the shit, yo.
This post is by Ceridwen, in case that gets reblogged out.
Now, I know that resident BookLikers are likely sick of the recent influx of the Goodreads diaspora and all our shouting. I've been involved in in-groups on social media long enough to know how irritating n00bs are with their casual galumphing over social standards developed and maintained by the invested members of a platform. So to you BookLikes Golden Agers, I apologize for continuing to complain about my Goodreads ex-boyfriend while I'm on a date with BookLikes.
That said, I have released the database that collects 12 of the 21 delete lists in Goodreads's recent policy change, in addition to an analysis - with charts! - of the data. Goodreads has been frustratingly vague in what they consider actionable; here are the book reviews that they have taken action against. I would seriously love it if folk would use this database to find out more about what Goodreads deems actionable.
Science is sexy, friends.
It's time for Thursday Release and it's a feature many of you requested :-) Now when a given book doesn't fit any default status on your Shelf (Read, Planning to read, Currently reading) you can create your own exclusive book status.
How? You can create and organize your books with new statuses in several ways.
Go to your Shelf Page and create your new status with your name, e.g. Not finished. New status will be added and visible at once on your Shelf.
You can also create exclusive status directly in book pop up, select it and Save for a given title. The book will receive new status immediately.
If you want to reset previously given status (Read, Planning to read, Currently reading), click on it and Save. It should go white (inactive) and notion "On Shelf" will appear instead.
You can also create exclusive status on Table view of your shelf (the entrance is on Shelf page). It is also a place where you can re-arrange your books one by one:
or move several books at once:
You can still create thematic shelves which will be added to your Shelf on the left and organize them the same way in table view.
Spiritus by Dana Michelle Burnett
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This left me on a cliffhanger...I really want to know what happens next. More review to come.
-------Review FINALLY written 10/2/13-------
This book is about a teenage girl named Becca who moves to her father's hometown after the death of her mother. What follows is a story of heartbreak and past love triggered by a seance with her new group of friends. (WHY DO THEY ALWAYS HAVE TO PERFORM A SEANCE! Never EVER perform a seance when you are new in town, drunk, or bored. In fact, why even mess with the supernatural. Leave it alone.)
I read a book recently, that reminded me of elements found in this book and why supernatural love is so enticing. "Monsters" (as the book labeled Vampires, Ghosts, Angels, etc.) are often used as symbols within a novel. Vampires are usually mysteriously attractive men who target young, beautiful, unmarried women in order to "eat" them, or if you prefer use them for what they can get from them. Ghosts are usually intended to point something out to the main character or reader (Hamlet).
In this case, Alistair is present to jog Becca's memory of a past event (A VERY past event) and because some teenage girls decided it was a great idea to have a seance. His presence also seems to bring himself a little bit closer to "closure". (An English professor once told us that "closure" is a yuppie word but IDGAF I'm using the term to describe what happened.) At first Becca does enjoy having Alistair around but things get more complicated and memories come back to her of a time long ago when life was different.
I wasn't particularly fond of the overabundance of "he is perfect" moments, but I can overlook them because at the time I was feeling the romance. (Even though I'm far from romantic and do not enjoy romance. So props to Burnett for that!)
Why did I enjoy this but disliked another well known novel with similar elements? (I'm not even going to mention the novel's name.) I have no idea why I liked it. I can't tell you. All I can tell you is, I approved of this book.
(I received an ePub copy of this book from the author in a giveaway @ A Bookalicious Story . Thank you to Dana Michelle Burnett for the chance to read this lovely book.)
View all my reviews
Day 2: A book you've read more than 3 times
Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh
I have read this probably about three times, I know the challenge says over three, but I'm counting this cause I've watched the movie way more than three. This was one of my favorite books around 11 to 13. I still love the movie and will admit I did have a spy notebook in 8th grade....and I did get in trouble for it. I wrote about a teacher in it....yeaaaa.
Eaters of the Dead by Michael Crichton
This is again a favorite book that I have watched the movie more than read the book. I thought Crichton's retelling of the legend of Beowulf was interesting and I loved the ending.
Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine
Read this so much one of my copies fell apart. It just disintegrated. Well there was the time my dog decided it made a good chew toy...but it was hardcover so that shouldn't have mattered. Anyways, I fell in love with this around the time I started high school. Here I am 29 years old and this book is still my go to favorite.
Deerskin by Robin McKinley
If you want to read a twisted version of a fairy tale read this or any of McKinley's books. The woman knows how to morph a classic tale into something that can shock and enthrall you. This is a retelling of Donkeyskin, a less well known Charles Perrault fairy tale, about a princess whose father falls in love with her and tries to force her to marry him. The original tale was rather "wtf" to begin with....this takes it to a new level.
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