2015 What I'm Reading Wednesday #16

A short post this Wednesday because I am still reading Full Dark House by Christopher Fowler.

Here is one of my favorite quotes so far:

"Well, your manifestation of guilt just killed someone with a cut-throat razor"

Here is my yearly reading progress so far.  The goal is 30 books:

Number of Books Read: 28

January

1. The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa
2. Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman
3. The Van Alen Legacy by Melissa de la Cruz
4. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society by Mary Ann Schaffer
5. Blue Bloods: The Keys to the Repository by Melissa de la Cruz
6. A Million Little Pieces by James Frey

February

1. Misguided Angel by Melissa de la Cruz
2. Witches of East End by Melissa de la Cruz

March
1. The Coroner’s Lunch by Colin Cotterill

April

1. The Wonder Show by Hannah Barnaby
2. Wicked by Gregory Maguire
3. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
4. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

May

1. Forever Odd by Dean Koontz
2. On Writing by Stephen King
3. The Knife of Never Letting Go (Chaos Walking) by Patrick Ness

June/July

1. The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
2. The Alchemyst by Michael Scott
3. Brida by Paolo Coehlo
4. 50 Things you can do with Google Classroom
5. Ditch That Textbook by Matt Miller
6. Bird Box by Josh Malerman
7. The Journal Junkies Workshop by Eric W. Scott and David R. Modler

August
1. Everville by Clive Barker

2.  Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

September

1.  The Thinking Woman's Guide to Real Magic by Emily Croy Baker

October

1.  Casino Royale by Ian Fleming

2.  The Man who Understood Cats by Michael Allen Dymmoch

What are you reading this week?

2015 What I'm Reading #15

Recently I have been on a mystery kick.  It all started one day as I was driving home and listening to NPR.  They had a story about a new James Bond book and the author who was attempting to imitate Ian Fleming's style while also updating the character and storyline.  It made me realize that I had never read a James Bond book.  This was a strange realization for me.  My granddad was a huge James Bond fan, and I grew up watching the movies in his living room.  

I immediately decided to take a detour to the library.  I found Casino Royale in the Mystery section and then picked up three more mysteries that had interesting covers.

image source:  wikipedia.org

I was hugely disappointed.  This book was not what I expected.  Where were the chase scenes, the crazy-bad-guy-with-the-complex-plan-to-take-over-the-world, the cool gadgets?  Are the movies so different from the original books?  I may have to try another Ian Fleming book just to be sure.

The Man who Understood Cats by Michael Allen Dymmoch was the next book on my list.

image source: goodreads.com

I really like the cover picture, where the cat and the hat blend together.  The book was also very entertaining.  Although I did think that cats were going to play a larger part in the story :)

Now I am reading Full Dark House by Christopher Fowler.  I'm not sure what I think of this one yet, but I am intrigued by the teaser quote that I shared yesterday.

What are you reading this week?  Have you ever read any of these books?  What did you think?

Teaser Tuesday - (Oct. 13)

Trying something new this week :)

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of A Daily Rhythm. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Here is my teaser:

"The woman who answered his knock had a square, friendly face framed by ragged curls of bleached hair.  She appeared to have missed when applying her lipstick, and missed again with her eye shadow, so that she looked more like a confused plump poodle than a white witch."     Full Dark House by Christopher Fowler (p.261)

I'm intrigued :)

Do you have a teaser to share?  Have you read this book?  What did you think?

2015 What I'm Reading #14

Right now I am reading  The Thinking Woman's Guide to Real Magic by Emily Croy Barker.

image source:  amazon.com

Time travel, alternate universes, fairies, dragons, and magicians!  Could it get any better? I picked this book up at the library based completely on the title and the cover.  I do love to judge a book by its cover :)  This time I judged well; I really like this book so far.

My goal for this year is to read 30 books, and I am almost there.  Yay!   

Here is the list so far:

Number of Books Read: 25

January

1. The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa
2. Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman
3. The Van Alen Legacy by Melissa de la Cruz
4. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society by Mary Ann Schaffer
5. Blue Bloods: The Keys to the Repository by Melissa de la Cruz
6. A Million Little Pieces by James Frey

February

1. Misguided Angel by Melissa de la Cruz
2. Witches of East End by Melissa de la Cruz

March
1. The Coroner’s Lunch by Colin Cotterill

April

1. The Wonder Show by Hannah Barnaby
2. Wicked by Gregory Maguire
3. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
4. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

May

1. Forever Odd by Dean Koontz
2. On Writing by Stephen King
3. The Knife of Never Letting Go (Chaos Walking) by Patrick Ness

June/July

1. The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
2. The Alchemyst by Michael Scott
3. Brida by Paolo Coehlo
4. 50 Things you can do with Google Classroom
5. Ditch That Textbook by Matt Miller
6. Bird Box by Josh Malerman
7. The Journal Junkies Workshop by Eric W. Scott and David R. Modler

August
1. Everville by Clive Barker

2.  Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Top Ten Characters I Just Didn't Click With

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish.

At first I had a really hard time with this list, but soon the ideas were flowing.  In the end I came up with 8 characters that I did not click with.

1.  Sansa from Game of Thrones series

I thought she was annoying.  Then again marriage has never been my life goal, and I don't care if I am fashionable or not.

2.  Malorie from Bird Box

She doesn't know when to keep her mouth shut, and I have real problems with how she raised her kids.

3.  A. Norton Perina from The People in the Trees

Suspected child molester who takes advantage of native people.  Not a likeable man.

4.  Todd from The Knife of Never Letting Go
Wow, this kid annoyed me.  I understand that he's just a kid, but all he had to do was admit that he didn't know everything and things would have worked out so much better.

5.  Elphaba from Wicked
I didn't really like anything about this book.

6.  The Coroner from The Coroner's Lunch
Another book that I wasn't very fond of.  

7.  Allison from The Immortal Rules
Why does this vampire keep trying to live a human life?  Annoying.

8.  Nick from Gone Girl
When everyone thinks that you killed your wife, you should definitely not act like Nick does.

It's interesting that even though I didn't really click with these characters, I did have an emotional response to them.  Not all characters are supposed to be likeable.  Not all characters are supposed to be unannoying.  I enjoyed most of the books even if I didn't click with all the characters.

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

What it's about:
"In Rainbow Rowell's Fangirl, Cath is a Simon Snow fan. Okay, the whole world is a Simon Snow fan, but for Cath, being a fan is her life--and she's really good at it. She and her twin sister, Wren, ensconced themselves in the Simon Snow series when they were just kids; it's what got them through their mother leaving.

Reading. Rereading. Hanging out in Simon Snow forums, writing Simon Snow fan fiction, dressing up like the characters for every movie premiere.

Cath's sister has mostly grown away from fandom, but Cath can't let go. She doesn't want to.
Now that they're going to college, Wren has told Cath she doesn't want to be roommates. Cath is on her own, completely outside of her comfort zone. She's got a surly roommate with a charming, always-around boyfriend, a fiction-writing professor who thinks fan fiction is the end of the civilized world, a handsome classmate who only wants to talk about words . . . And she can't stop worrying about her dad, who's loving and fragile and has never really been alone.

For Cath, the question is: Can she do this?

Can she make it without Wren holding her hand? Is she ready to start living her own life? Writing her own stories?

And does she even want to move on if it means leaving Simon Snow behind?" -Amazon.com

What I thought:
OMG!! I just wanted to curl up inside this book and never leave.  So many feels.

I have never read or written fanfic (although I am kind of motivated to give it a try now).  I have never dressed up as a character from my favorite book.  I have never gone to a midnight release of anything.  But I still related to Cath and the other characters in this book so much.


I especially relate to Cath's struggle with the word "just" (“Cath wished she didn't use the word "just" so much. It was her passive-aggressive tell, like someone who twitched when they were lying.”).  My writing is splattered with the word.  When editing begins, my first plan of attack is always to strike out every occurrence of the word "just."

And Levi...I just have no words.  I am pretty sure that I love everything about this guy.  If it weren't for the receding hairline, he might be too perfect :)  Although I think I kind of love his receding hairline too.

Stars:  5/5  I couldn't put this book down.
Would I recommend it?:  Yes!  Absolutely!
Favorite Quote(s):
"If you come off all moody and melancholy in a text, it just sits there in your phone, reminding you of what a drag you are."

"This class is for writers," she said.  "For people who are willing to set aside their fears and move past distractions."

Have you read Fangirl?  What did you think?

2015 What I'm Reading #13

This year my goal is to read 30 books.  This summer I planned to only read books in Spanish or books related to work.  I started out well.  I read Brida by Paolo Coehlo in Spanish.  Next I read two books about using technology in the classroom, and then the whole plan fell apart.  Oh well, it was a good effort :)

Currently I am reading Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell.  Actually I just checked it out today and have not officially started yet.  I have heard good things about this book and I am very excited to read it.  Also I can be a little bit of a fangirl at times.

image source:  amazon.com

Here is the list so far:

Number of Books Read: 24

January

1. The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa
2. Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman
3. The Van Alen Legacy by Melissa de la Cruz
4. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society by Mary Ann Schaffer
5. Blue Bloods: The Keys to the Repository by Melissa de la Cruz
6. A Million Little Pieces by James Frey

February

1. Misguided Angel by Melissa de la Cruz
2. Witches of East End by Melissa de la Cruz

March
1. The Coroner’s Lunch by Colin Cotterill

April

1. The Wonder Show by Hannah Barnaby
2. Wicked by Gregory Maguire
3. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
4. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

May

1. Forever Odd by Dean Koontz
2. On Writing by Stephen King
3. The Knife of Never Letting Go (Chaos Walking) by Patrick Ness

June/July

1. The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
2. The Alchemyst by Michael Scott
3. Brida by Paolo Coehlo
4. 50 Things you can do with Google Classroom
5. Ditch That Textbook by Matt Miller
6. Bird Box by Josh Malerman
7. The Journal Junkies Workshop by Eric W. Scott and David R. Modler

August
1. Everville by Clive Barker

What are you reading this week?