tags

Tag | Fall Book Tag

Emma3 Comments

Can you smell that? It’s the smell of encroaching crispy leaves falling off trees and Starbucks churning out PSLs. That’s right, it’s Fall – or, Autumn, as we English people say. And in celebration of this transitional season into the best of the year (Winter, obviously), I’ve found a book tag, the aptly names Fall Book Tag. No messing around with fancy names here, no sir. This tag was created by Bionic Book Worm and I saw it over on Stephanie’s blog so I couldn’t resist giving it a go.

Crisp Fall Air – A Book That Felt Fresh and New

The first thing that came to mind was Genuine Fraud by e. lockhart. I know other authors have written stories in reverse order but this used that device in a really interesting way so it started with, say, chapter 20, and worked its way back to chapter 1 so you understood the motivation behind what brought the protagonist to the situation she was in at the start of the book/end of the story. It didn’t feel gimmicky either, it completely fit the tone of the story being told, which was quite refreshing, like that sweet, sweet fall breeze.

Howling Winds – An Ending That Blew You Away

I could pick so many series enders for this. I mean, shall I be typical and mention a certain duology by Leigh Bardugo? Or perhaps a trilogy by V.E. Schwab?

But if we’re talking about real ‘makes you gasp with surprise’ ending that made me frantically turn over the pages expecting (nay, needing) more story right this second, then I guess that would be the thing that happens at the end of The Mime Order by Samantha Shannon. I don’t know if I’ve ever quite recovered from it.

Continue reading →

Down the TBR Hole #24

Emma4 Comments

Welcome folks to the twenty-fourth round of Down the TBR Hole!

For those of you who have no idea what I’m talking about, check out the previous posts via the tag or check out Lia at Lost in a Story who is the creator of this wonderful meme/project.

I’m trying to make this a regular feature of my blogging schedule because it’s good to regularly reevaluate if/why you want to read a book – that way you don’t come back to your TBR years later and have no clue why a title piqued your interest in the first place. I’ve also added a summary of results bit at the bottom of each round so I can track how many books I’ve kept and ditched from my TBR shelf in each round and overall.

Just a reminder of how this works:

  • Go to your goodreads to-read shelf.
  • Order on ascending date added.
  • Take the first 5 (or 10 if you’re feeling adventurous) books
  • Read the synopses of the books
  • Decide: keep it or should it go?

Outside of doing these posts semi-regularly I have also been culling my TBR list at random points when I’m bored – all of this is good in terms of getting my TBR to a reasonable amount of books but it also means that these posts are getting harder for me to do as I’m beginning to really agonise over whether to ditch or keep books on there. Not that any of this is a bad thing! Let’s get going on the 10 books under scrutiny today…

1. I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith

Why is it there? As is typical of most classics on this list, I’m not entirely sure when or why this was added. However, having had a quick glance on Goodreads at the verdicts of my fellow readers, they said it’s a must read for fans of Jane Austen so I probably should give it a go.
Do I own it? Yes
Verdict? Keep

2. Love in a Cold Climate and Other Novels by Nancy Mitford

Why is it there? Once again, I have little to no recollection of how this ended up on my TBR. I likely decided that I knew nothing about the Mitfords so should give this a go. The thing is, so little time, so many books I want to read…
Do I own it? No
Verdict? Ditch

3. Decline and Fall by Evelyn Waugh

Why is it there? For some reason, I’ve decided I’ll quite like Evelyn Waugh books. The thing is… I’ve never read one. However, I’ve seen enough synopses to reckon out that I will probably indeed enjoy the likes of Brideshead Revisited and this book too.
Do I own it? Yes
Verdict? Keep Continue reading →

Down the TBR Hole #23

Emma2 Comments

Welcome folks to the twenty-third round of Down the TBR Hole! As I mentioned in my last round of DtTH (nope, that acronym isn’t particularly attractive, is it?), this little project has been a great way of weening down my TBR over the past year so I’ve decided to keep it up and make it a semi-regular feature in order to spring clean my TBR aka be realistic about what books I aspire to read and what books I actually will read.

For those of you who have no idea what I’m talking about, check out the previous posts via the tag or check out Lia at Lost in a Story who is the creator of this wonderful meme/project.

I’m trying to make this a regular feature of my blogging schedule because it’s good to regularly reevaluate if/why you want to read a book – that way you don’t come back to your TBR years later and have no clue why a title piqued your interest in the first place. I’ve also added a summary of results bit at the bottom of each round so I can track how many books I’ve kept and ditched from my TBR shelf in each round and overall.

Just a reminder of how this works:

  • Go to your goodreads to-read shelf.
  • Order on ascending date added.
  • Take the first 5 (or 10 if you’re feeling adventurous) books
  • Read the synopses of the books
  • Decide: keep it or should it go?

Outside of doing these posts semi-regularly I have also been culling my TBR list at random points when I’m bored – all of this is good in terms of getting my TBR to a reasonable amount of books but it also means that these posts are getting harder for me to do as I’m beginning to really agonise over whether to ditch or keep books on there. Not that any of this is a bad thing! Let’s get going on the 10 books under scrutiny today…

1. A Single Man by Christopher Isherwood

Why is it there? I’ve seen the film and absolutely adored it, so naturally I wanted to read the book for myself. I don’t really know much about how this reads as a story, but I’m sure it will be enormously sad, based on how I felt about the film, and I just need to wait to be in the right mood for reading that sort of thing…
Do I own it? No
Verdict? Keep

2. The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens

Why is it there? Since I haven’t read nearly as many Dickens novels as I feel I ought to have, as a Literature graduate, I added all the Charles Dickens books to my TBR list many moons ago… and then did precisely nothing about it. As it stands, I’ve only read 5 of his novels and there’s like 15/16 – this is one of the many I haven’t yet read, but it sounds absolutely bonkers so I’m here for it, when I finally decide that reading a 500-page book is a good idea.
Do I own it? Yes
Verdict? Keep

3. Jackaby by William Ritter

Why is it there? I remember vaguely seeing this book pop up in some Booktubers’ hauled videos and then I saw Stephanie from Adventures of a Bibliophile review the series very positively, and that helped to move this book onto my actual TBR. It’s often described as a late 19th-century historical fiction/paranormal mystery that’s reminiscent of Doctor Who meets Sherlock, so I’m definitely up for trying that out sometime (hopefully) soon.
Do I own it? Yes
Verdict? Keep

Continue reading →

Tag | Mid-Year Book Freak Out Tag

Emma3 Comments

Greetings one and all, today on this auspicious day I bring you a tag which you may very well have seen floating around A LOT – the Mid-Year Book Freak Out Tag. The tag was originally created by Ely and Chami, and it does the rounds at this time of year as all us book bloggers, Booktubers, and book enthusiasts alike look back over what we’ve read so far in the year and (maybe) freak out about all the fantastic (and not so fantastic) books we’ve read. I think that’s all the introduction it needs so, without further ado, let’s freak out…

1. Best book you’ve read so far in 2018.

This question is never not tricky. If we’re discounting re-reads, then The Language of Thorns, The Power, The Girl from Everywhere, The Essex Serpent, The Lie Tree, Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, and Genuine Fraud have been my 5-star reads. As far as my favourite goes, that would probably be either The Essex Serpent or The Lie Tree, I read them at a similar time though so maybe I was just in the right head-space to REALLY love what I was reading. Both were full of mystery and definitely NOT what I expected them to be. But I’m not choosing between them.

2. Best sequel you’ve read so far in 2018.

Despite my commitment to finish series this year (a resolution I have been failing hard), I actually haven’t read that many sequels at all – I can literally count on one hand the amount of sequels I’ve read, and have fingers to spare. So, the choice is limited but, thankfully, I’ve read a pretty good sequel and that was the second book in Marie Rutkoski’s Winner’s Trilogy, called The Winner’s Crime. The stakes were raised so much higher from the first book and this sequel had much more court politics and intrigue and spying so, suffice it to say, I loved it.

3. New release you haven’t read yet, but want to.

I’m really bad at reading things on time, ask my protesting pile of eARCs on NetGalley if you don’t believe me! How “new” is new though? Because I still haven’t read Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi and that came out back in March. I’m a bad reader, I know.

4. Most anticipated release for the second half of the year.

I’m sure there are many others that I’m forgetting right now as I’m faced with this question but the thing that sticks in my head is the two books we have to look forward to from V.E. Schwab, Vengeful, sequel to Vicious (which I still haven’t read, I know, I need to), and City of Ghosts which is about a girl who can see ghosts and is set in a very haunted Edinburgh. That’s all I need to know, I’m in.

Continue reading →

Down the TBR Hole #22

Emma1 Comment

Welcome folks to the twenty-second round of Down the TBR Hole! As I mentioned in my last round of DtTH (nope, that acronym isn’t particularly attractive, is it?), this little project has been a great way of weening down my TBR over the past year so I’ve decided to keep it up and make it a semi-regular feature in order to spring clean my TBR aka be realistic about what books I aspire to read and what books I actually will read.

For those of you who have no idea what I’m talking about, check out the previous posts via the tag or check out Lia at Lost in a Story who is the creator of this wonderful meme/project.

I’m trying to make this a regular feature of my blogging schedule because it’s good to regularly reevaluate if/why you want to read a book – that way you don’t come back to your TBR years later and have no clue why a title piqued your interest in the first place. I’ve also added a summary of results bit at the bottom of each round so I can track how many books I’ve kept and ditched from my TBR shelf in each round and overall.

Just a reminder of how this works:

  • Go to your goodreads to-read shelf.
  • Order on ascending date added.
  • Take the first 5 (or 10 if you’re feeling adventurous) books
  • Read the synopses of the books
  • Decide: keep it or should it go?

Outside of doing these posts semi-regularly I have also been culling my TBR list at random points when I’m bored – all of this is good in terms of getting my TBR to a reasonable amount of books but it also means that these posts are getting harder for me to do as I’m beginning to really agonise over whether to ditch or keep books on there. Not that any of this is a bad thing! Let’s get going on the 10 books under scrutiny today…

1. Through the Woods by Emily Carroll

Why is it there? Back when I was trying to find more graphic novels to read, I stumbled across this one. The stark colours of red, white, and black on the cover immediately made me buy it, but the fact it’s a bit spooky has put me off reading it ever since. Even so, I think this may very well be one I get to this Halloween, or during a readathon near Halloween at least.
Do I own it? Yes
Verdict? Keep

2. The Archivist by Martha Cooley

Why is it there? This one seems a little random as it (shock horror) seems to be a recommendation from someone “offline”. A peer from university recommended it generally on Goodreads once, and I suppose that was reason enough for me to add it to my shelf then. However, since then, I’ve seen neither reviews, nor sight of this in the flesh… so I think I might be sadly saying goodbye to it, for now.
Do I own it? No
Verdict? Ditch

3. Secret Society Girl by Diana Peterfreund

Why is it there? This is about a secret society at an Ivy League university… why wouldn’t I have added this to my TBR? I have a feeling this is going to be overly dramatic and ridiculous but I’m kind of into that? If it doesn’t end up being like The Life and Death Brigade a la Gilmore Girls, I’ll be sorely disappointed.
Do I own it? No
Verdict? Keep

Continue reading →

Tag | Norse Mythology Book Tag

Emma6 Comments

It’s that time of the week again: it’s Tag Thursday. Hold the applause, please.

Considering I’m right in the thick of re-reading (this time via audiobook) Neil Gaiman’s Norse Mythology and I am quite a fan of an MCU character based on a certain trickster god from the Norse pantheon, I couldn’t not do this tag when I saw it over on Zoe’s blog a couple of days ago. Lots of credit must also be given to the creator of this brilliant tag, Kyera and you should definitely check out both of their blogs.

But, for now, onward, to the rules and the tag questions!

The Rules:

  • Link back to my original post on Kyera’s Library so I can see all your answers! (Be sure to do this via pingback, I don’t get notified if you just tag my URL)
  • Thank the person(s) who tagged you… show the community some love!
  • Obviously, come up with your wonderful answers!
  • Don’t forget to tag others to keep the tag going!

ODIN – FAVOURITE STAND ALONE:
Odin is the All-Father, the leader of the Norse Gods. He is the god of wisdom, poetry, battle, death, wine, and war, among other things.

The problem with reading so much YA fantasy is that very few books actually end up being standalones; in fact, YA fantasy has a habit of claiming to be a standalone only to have a series book deal announced shortly after the publication (and success) of a book. However, thankfully, one of my favourite books of all-time is a standalone and that is The Graveyard Book by the ever-wonderful Neil Gaiman. This book has my heart and soul and it is truly heartwarming and uplifting in the end, which is strange for a book that starts “There was a hand in the darkness, and it held a knife.”

THOR – A BOOK THAT HITS YOU IN THE FEELS:
Thor is the god of thunder, weather, warriors, strength, and storms, so his might packs a punch. He is married to the beautiful Lady Sif.

Weirdly connected to my previous answer by way of marriage is The Art of Asking by Amanda Palmer, a non-fiction book/memoir exploring the idea of creativity and why we (as creators, as humans, as family members) struggle to admit that we need help and ask someone else for their knowledge, expertise, or (simply) money. Given that I am not a freelancer or busker or performer of any kind, I wasn’t expecting to be hit so much by this book but it ended up speaking so true to life in general and I did tear up at a few points when Amanda Palmer got a little personal.

LOKI – BIGGEST BOOK PLOT TWIST OR CHARACTER BETRAYAL:
Loki is the god of mischief, thieves and thrives on chaos.

I’m just going to say it: Maggie Stiefvater’s The Raven Boys. In hindsight, it’s SO fucking obvious, and WHY didn’t I see it… it’s literally said right there on the page but I skipped over it on first read and chalked it down to banter. I can’t tell you what or who this answer pertains to because HUGE SPOILERS but, yeah, bit of a plot twist really…

Continue reading →

Down the TBR Hole #21

Emma6 Comments

Welcome folks to the twenty first round of Down the TBR Hole! As I mentioned in my last round of DtTH (nope, that acronym isn’t particularly attractive, is it?), this little project has been a great way of weening down my TBR over the past year so I’ve decided to keep it up and make it a semi-regular feature in order to spring clean my TBR aka be realistic about what books I aspire to read and what books I actually will read.

For those of you who have no idea what I’m talking about, check out the previous posts via the tag or check out Lia at Lost in a Story who is the creator of this wonderful meme/project.

I’m trying to make this a regular feature of my blogging schedule because it’s good to regularly reevaluate if/why you want to read a book – that way you don’t come back to your TBR years later and have no clue why a title piqued your interest in the first place. I’ve also added a summary of results bit at the bottom of each round so I can track how many books I’ve kept and ditched from my TBR shelf in each round and overall.

Just a reminder of how this works:

  • Go to your goodreads to-read shelf.
  • Order on ascending date added.
  • Take the first 5 (or 10 if you’re feeling adventurous) books
  • Read the synopses of the books
  • Decide: keep it or should it go?

Outside of doing these posts semi-regularly I have also been culling my TBR list at random points when I’m bored – all of this is good in terms of getting my TBR to a reasonable amount of books but it also means that these posts are getting harder for me to do as I’m beginning to really agonise over whether to ditch or keep books on there. Not that any of this is a bad thing! Let’s get going on the 10 books under scrutiny today…

1. The Iliad by Homer

Why is it there? To be honest, I’m a little bit ashamed I’ve never actually properly read The Iliad or The Odyssey, especially considering how interested I used to be in Ancient Greece and all the history and myths and legends when I was younger. I know the plots of both The Iliad and The Odyssey and I’ve definitely consumed a lot of media (TV, film, books) about those two tales, but I’ve never properly read the source material. Anyone who is knowledgeable about these things, is there a particular critical edition of this book that you’d advise I acquire?
Do I own it? No
Verdict? Keep

2. Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng

Why is it there? It feels like everyone and their mothers has read this book already. I am not one of those people. I also have not yet read (though I do own) Celeste Ng’s second novel, Little Fires, but I’m SUPER keen to get to that soon. Pretty much everyone says this is great, so I need to get to this, simple as.
Do I own it? No
Verdict? Keep

3. The Clockwork Scarab by Colleen Gleason

Why is it there? I’m pretty sure I’ve actually read most of this book… but then I must have put it down for some reason. It’s the first in a series of books which detail the adventures of “Stoker and Holmes”, Evaline Stoker (Bram Stoker’s sister) and Mina Holmes (the niece of Sherlock Holmes) as they team up to solve maybe supernatural mysteries. It’s meta and ridiculous and I remember enjoying it for the romp that it was i.e. it’s not particularly clever or insightful but it’s fun, ok!
Do I own it? Yes
Verdict? Keep

Continue reading →

Tag | The Gilmore Girls Tag

Emma7 Comments

Welcome back, everyone. Today I bring you a tag! ‘But Emma’, I hear you say, ‘it’s not Thursday, is it?’ Well no, it’s not, it is indeed Monday but I couldn’t resist having a go at this tag when I saw it because it’s all about Gilmore Girls. I first saw this on the lovely Rosie’s blog so please do pop over to her blog and check out her answers if you’re curious. (And if anyone knows who the originator of this tag is, please let me know so that I can credit them appropriately!)

So make like Lorelai Gilmore, grab your coffee, and let’s no waste any time at all – let’s get going on the tag…

lorelai_cynicism

Do you own the collection?

Yep, I have the DVDs proudly on my shelf. Although now it’s finally on Netflix it seems like a waste of shelf space, haha.

What was your first introduction to Gilmore Girls?

You know, I’m not entirely sure but I think I used to see people going on about Gilmore Girls on Tumblr and using gifs of Lorelai talking about coffee and I just thought I should probably jump on that bandwagon. I vaguely remember watching some of the first episodes on Megavideo though (yes I was naughty, shhh) so I’m not sure what year I actually watched my very first episode – it had definitely stopped airing when I did though.

Dave or Zack?

Obviously Dave, forever and always Dave. I’ve never quite forgiven Adam Brody for landing The OC and having to leave Gilmore Girls to be on that show instead, to the point that I still show some hesitance about fully committing to watching The OC because I just know it’ll kill me inside that him and Lane were SO DAMN CUTE but he’s off in California doing that instead. I think putting Lane with Zack and the whole shenanigans that followed was just SO out of character and I did not like it one bit.

Continue reading →

Down the TBR Hole #20

Emma10 Comments

Welcome folks to the twentieth round of Down the TBR Hole! As I mentioned in my last round of DtTH (nope, that acronym isn’t particularly attractive, is it?), this little project has been a great way of weening down my TBR over the past year so I’ve decided to keep it up and make it a semi-regular feature in order to spring clean my TBR aka be realistic about what books I aspire to read and what books I actually will read.

For those of you who have no idea what I’m talking about, check out the previous posts via the tag or check out Lia at Lost in a Story who is the creator of this wonderful meme/project.

I’m trying to make this a regular feature of my blogging schedule because it’s good to regularly reevaluate if/why you want to read a book – that way you don’t come back to your TBR years later and have no clue why a title piqued your interest in the first place. I’ve also added a summary of results bit at the bottom of each round so I can track how many books I’ve kept and ditched from my TBR shelf in each round and overall.

Just a reminder of how this works:

  • Go to your goodreads to-read shelf.
  • Order on ascending date added.
  • Take the first 5 (or 10 if you’re feeling adventurous) books
  • Read the synopses of the books
  • Decide: keep it or should it go?

Outside of doing these posts semi-regularly I have also been culling my TBR list at random points when I’m bored – all of this is good in terms of getting my TBR to a reasonable amount of books but it also means that these posts are getting harder for me to do as I’m beginning to really agonise over whether to ditch or keep books on there. Not that any of this is a bad thing! Let’s get going on the 10 books under scrutiny today…

1. Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde

Why is it there? Like a lot of book lovers, I went through a stage of reading The Eyre Affair by the same author which is an extremely playful alternate history book where detective Thursday Next flits into the story of Jane Eyre in pursuit of a criminal. It’s every bit as wacky and meta as it sounds. Fast forward to when I added Shades of Grey onto my TBR list purely because I saw its cover in the library and wanted to remember it. Nowadays, its synopsis is interesting enough but I’m no longer dying to read it so…
Do I own it? No
Verdict? Ditch

2. I’m the King of the Castle by Susan Hill

Why is it there? I know people who had to read this as assigned reading in school but I haven’t read any Susan Hill… and I’m not entirely sure she’s ever really going to be one of my priority ‘must read’ authors. I hear its sad and emotional and involves children and bullying and neglect and I’m just… I’m not sure I ever want to willingly put myself through this.
Do I own it? No
Verdict? Ditch

3. The Kiss of Deception by Mary E. Pearson

Why is it there? I’m pretty sure this did the rounds on Booktube a good few years ago, when only the first two books of the trilogy were published and folks were highly anticipating the third and final part of the series. I added it to my TBR around that time when I saw it on (I think) Lainey’s channel (gingerreadslainey for those not familiar), but I’m still yet to read it. My library has the audiobook version though so I may very well give it a go in that format…
 Do I own it? No
Verdict? Keep

Continue reading →

Down the TBR Hole #19

EmmaLeave a comment

Welcome folks to the nineteenth round of Down the TBR Hole! As I mentioned in my last round of DtTH (nope, that acronym isn’t particularly attractive, is it?), this little project has been a great way of weening down my TBR over the past year so I’ve decided to keep it up and make it a semi-regular feature in order to spring clean my TBR aka be realistic about what books I aspire to read and what books I actually will read.

For those of you who have no idea what I’m talking about, check out the previous posts via the tag or check out Lia at Lost in a Story who is the creator of this wonderful meme/project.

I’m trying to make this a regular feature of my blogging schedule because it’s good to regularly reevaluate if/why you want to read a book – that way you don’t come back to your TBR years later and have no clue why a title piqued your interest in the first place. I’ve also added a summary of results bit at the bottom of each round so I can track how many books I’ve kept and ditched from my TBR shelf in each round and overall.

Just a reminder of how this works:

  • Go to your goodreads to-read shelf.
  • Order on ascending date added.
  • Take the first 5 (or 10 if you’re feeling adventurous) books
  • Read the synopses of the books
  • Decide: keep it or should it go?

Outside of doing these posts semi-regularly I have also been culling my TBR list at random points when I’m bored – all of this is good in terms of getting my TBR to a reasonable amount of books but it also means that these posts are getting harder for me to do as I’m beginning to really agonise over whether to ditch or keep books on there. Not that any of this is a bad thing! Let’s get going on the 10 books under scrutiny today…

1. Invisible: The Dangerous Allure of the Unseen by Philip Ball

Why is it there? There are sprinklings of random non-fiction books on my TBR, largely because I occasionally watch Booktubers (such as Charlotte of Chareads) who mostly read non-fiction and this title is definitely an example of that. I’m still intrigued by the premise but I so rarely pick up non-fiction that is there really any point in keeping this book listed on my TBR when I’m trying to be realistic about what books I’m likely to actually read?
Do I own it? No
Verdict? Ditch

2. Lexicon by Max Barry

Why is it there? This was a cover buy – I saw it on Booktube and decided I really needed to own a book with such a stunning cover. Since then, I have done precisely zero in terms of actually picking it up to read it. I went to the trouble of buying the hardback edition used though because that cover was so much prettier than the paperback options available, so I can’t really just ditch this book without feeling guilty about all the effort Past Emma went to in order to acquire it.
Do I own it? Yes
Verdict? Keep

3. Night Film by Marisha Pessl

Why is it there? This book definitely did the rounds a few years ago and I’ve still not got to it. I have bought it though, so that’s undoubtedly the first step. As I understand it this book is twisty and turny and told through different documents (newspaper, Internet pages etc.) as well as your typical narrative you’d expect in a book. All of this means that it seems like something you really need to read in one go, or at least you need to devote all of your reading time to it (forgoing the temptations to read other books simultaneously), in order to get the full effect. One day I will be in the mood to do that (hopefully).
Do I own it? Yes
Verdict? Keep

Continue reading →