tags

Tag | Mid-Year Book Freak Out Tag

Emma3 Comments

That’s right, folks, it’s time for the infamous Mid-Year Book Freak Out Tag. Originally created by Ely and Chami, this tag always does the rounds of the online book community at this time of year and it’s something of a tradition to take part so this year is no exception for me. We’re a couple of days past the official middle of the year but what’s a couple of days between friends, eh?

1. Best book you’ve read so far in 2019

This question is always difficult and I never answer with a single book title so get ready to hear a list: Red, White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston, King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo, The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon, Nevermoor by Jessica Townsend, Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid, and The Kingdom of Copper by S.A. Chakraborty.

2. Best sequel you’ve read so far in 2019

As seems tradition with this question, it makes me realise just how badly I’m doing at continuing series I haven’t yet finished. But without even thinking about it the best sequel I’ve read has to be The Kingdom of Copper by S.A. Chakraborty. All of these characters are absolute idiots and I love them.

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

I have a bunch of new releases to catch up on, including Kingsbane by Claire Legrand, Romanov by Nadine Brandes, and Wicked Saints by Emily A. Duncan. I still need to buy the latter two so pray that the book guilt gods are on my side long enough to let me buy them without feeling bad about how big my TBR is.

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

Easy: Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo. Next question…

Continue reading →

The Les Misérables Book Tag (Original Tag) | #MiserablesMay

Emma3 Comments

‘But Emma,’ I hear you say in earnest, ‘#MiserablesMay is over, you can stop trying to make it a thing!’ But I am nothing, dear readers, if not insistent. (Plus when I wasn’t frantically reading the book I was thinking about what other fun posts I could write other than my recaps. I just didn’t get around to it before the month was out.)

I’ve wanted to create my own book tag for a while and today I thought, hey, whilst I’m nursing my wounds from the battle that was reading Les Misérables, why not make it even harder to let go and/or move on by posting up a book tag inspired by the book that I’ve just been fighting? (All this fighting talk, the barricade would be proud.)

So, I present to you: The Les Misérables Book Tag!

Rules

Unlike the book itself, the rules of this book tag are very simple:

  • There are 13 questions, each of which ask you to pick either a character or a pick a book (answer whichever you’d rather) based on a prompt which is related to the characters from Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables. (There’s also one based on the book itself because I couldn’t resist!)
  • Please credit me as the creator of this book tag by linking back to this post when you do the tag yourself.
  • Tag your friends!

miserablesmay_tag

Continue reading →

Tag | Book Blogger Memory Challenge (Take Two!)

Emma3 Comments

Guess what, folks? It’s Thursday which can mean only one thing… time for a Tag Thursday post! (Have I officially made this happen now? Can I call it A Thing?) This time we have a tag enticingly called the Book Blogger Memory Challenge! Unfortunately, I don’t know who originated this particular tag so if you do, please let me know so I can credit them. But I recently saw this over on Stephanie’s blog and thought it looked like great fun so I had to join in!

Rules

You must answer these questions without looking anything up on the internet and without looking at your bookshelves!

Name a book written by an author called Michael

The very first author who came to mind was Michael Bond who wrote the Paddington books. I don’t think I remember actually reading any of them when I was a child but it’s pretty difficult to not know about Paddington even just in passing if you’re from the UK! (Plus the recent film is ADORABLE.)

Name a book with a dragon on the cover

I have so many books with dragons but I shall choose Temeraire series by Naomi Novik and The Lady Trent series by Marie Brennan as they’re both whole series of books with dragons on the cover.

Name a book about a character called George

There’s a book called Arthur and George by Julian Barnes. I have no idea what it’s about but I presume one of the main characters is called George. If not, I’ve been sold a lie.

Continue reading →

Tag | The ‘I Should Have Read That Book’ Tag

Emma15 Comments

Welcome one, welcome all, to another Tag Thursday! It’s been a while since I’ve posted a tag and I wasn’t really seeing many around. Luckily, however, I recently stumbled across this particular tag on Beth’s blog. She created it and, ok, so I wasn’t tagged to do this tag but when have I ever let that stop me? Let’s jump straight into it…

Rules

Thank the person who tagged you and link back to their post
Link to the creator’s blog (booksnest.co.uk) in your post
Answer the questions below
Tag 10 others to take part
ENJOY THE TAG!

The Questions

  • A book that a certain friend is always telling you to read 
  • A book that’s been on your TBR forever and yet you still haven’t picked it up
  • A book in a series you’ve started, but haven’t gotten round to finishing yet
  • A classic you’ve always liked the sound of, but never actually read
  • A popular book that it seems everyone but you has read
  • A book that inspired a film/TV adaptation that you really love, but you just haven’t read it yet 
  • A book you see all over Instagram but haven’t picked up yet

My Answers

A book that a certain friend is always telling you to read

Liz is forever telling me that I will enjoy The Masked City, the second book in Genevieve Cogman’s series. I’ve read the first book and quite enjoyed it – the irony being I read The Invisible Library before Liz did and yet she continued with the series and I didn’t hurry to do so! Although she didn’t give it a rave review necessarily, she thinks I will really like the second book because, as you might be able to tell from the title, it’s set in Venice and I am a sucker for anything involving Italy.

A book that’s been on your TBR forever and yet you still haven’t picked it up

Ignoring all the classics that have definitely been on my TBR way past their due, I think I’ll say Neil Gaiman’s Fragile Things. That one has been on my TBR since 2012, or so Goodreads tells me, so it’s kind of ridiculous that I haven’t picked it up yet given how much I LOVE Gaiman’s work and this is short stories so surely wouldn’t take as long to read as a full-blown novel (looking at you, American Gods).

Continue reading →

Tag | New Year’s Resolutions Book Tag

Emma3 Comments

I saw this tag recently over on Jenn’s blog and I’ve previously seen it done on Booktube by Heather @ Bookables but I think the original video of the tag has now been taken down? (If I’m wrong and you know the creator/link, please do let me know!) In any case, this is a super fun tag and it’s the perfect time of year to do it so I couldn’t resist joining in.

1. An author you’d like to read (that you’ve never read before).

I’d quite like to read something from Roshani Chokshi this year, specifically her January 2019 release The Gilded Wolves which sounds like everything I want/need in a book, but also her other books: The Star Touched Queen and A Crown of Wishes.

2. A book you’d like to read.

Everything from my Books You Didn’t Get to in 2018 list but specifically The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater because I’ve been putting it off and putting it off for months/years at this point. To be honest, it’s getting mildly ridiculous now because I love the series and need to know how it ends… but I also don’t want it to end, hence not reading the final book. I need to stop being silly and just read this one, maybe I can persuade myself to do so by letting myself re-read the previous three books?

3. A classic you’d like to read.

Aside from finally finishing reading War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy, I would also like to read Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh because I feel like I’d probably LOVE this one and it’s a travesty I haven’t read it yet, frankly. But mostly I’d like to make a decent dent in my Classics Club list in 2019.

Continue reading →

Tag | Bookish Book Lover Tag

Emma3 Comments

Welcome one, welcome all! Today, I’m here with the Bookish Book Lover Tag, which was created by Shantelle @Shantellemaryh Although it seems her blog doesn’t exist anymore, oh no! I saw this tag recently thanks to Stephanie from Adventures of a Bibliophile. Let’s not waste any more time, let’s jump straight into the questions…

What books are you currently reading?

At the time of writing this post (though hopefully not at the time of publishing this post), I’m currently reading a few things: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, The Tell-Tale Heart and Other Stories by Edgar Allen Poe, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by J.K. Rowling, and If We’re Not Married By Thirty by Lucy Bell. The first three of those are audiobooks and the first two are for the sake of completing a couple more Around the Year challenges. The latter two are just for fun!

What’s the last book you finished?

I Am, I Am, I Am by Maggie O’Farrell – I didn’t really know what to expect at all because I’ve never read anything from this author before but it came highly recommended from someone at work. It turned out to be awful and shocking and kind of morbid but also weirdly uplifting too and I really enjoyed the writing style (even though it’s non-fiction, so can you really tell what someone’s fiction will be like from that?) so I’ll be checking out some more Maggie O’Farrell in the future for sure.

Favorite book read this year?

I have to choose just one?! I’ve had a pretty damn good reading year, all in all, and there have been a lot of 4+ star reads, but off the top of my head some major contenders are: Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid, Furyborn by Claire Legrand, The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry, The Girl From Everywhere by Heidi Heilig.

Continue reading →

Tag | The Greek Gods Book Tag

Emma3 Comments

Hi folks! Today, on this Thursday evening, I bring you a fun book tag, who would’ve guessed? I wasn’t actually tagged but I saw this tag very recently over on Luna’s blog and it was created by Zuky. Since it’s about greek gods and I loved learning the mythology and legends when I was younger (still do, if I’m honest), it seemed like an impossible tag for me to pass over. So here we are – let’s get straight to it!

gg_tag

The Rules

  • Pingback to Zuky here so she can read all your posts!
  • You can use her graphics if you like, but you don’t have to if you don’t want to.
  • Tag as many people as you want, but please share the love.

gg_zeus

ZEUS: KING OF THE GODS – YOUR FAVOURITE BOOK

I have too many: Pride and Prejudice, Rebecca, Good Omens, Persuasion, The Graveyard Book, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Six of Crows, The Secret History, Fangirl… I could go on.

gg_hera

HERA: QUEEN OF THE GODS – A BADASS FEMALE CHARACTER

Speaking of Six of Crows, can we talk about Inej Ghafa for a minute? Because Inej. Need I say more? I think not, the Wraith speaks for herself.

Continue reading →

Tag | Bookish Naughty or Nice

Emma7 Comments

Welcome one, welcome all, to another Tag Thursday! Since we are deep in the midst of Blogmas, I thought I would bring you a festive themed tag this week. This week’s tag comes courtesy of Jenn who created the tag and Jenna and Luna who were kind enough to tag me and it’s called the Bookish Naughty of Nice tag. Let’s make that list and check it twice…

Rules

  • Tag & link the person who tagged you
  • Tag and link me/this post (if you would be so kind, I love reading your answers!)
  • Tick/cross off the ones you’ve done
  • Tag another 10 people!

If you’ve not been tagged, go ahead and do it anyway!

Received an ARC and not reviewed it ✓

An eARC, yes – I’m bad. A physical ARC, no, by virtue of the fact that the only physical ARC I’ve ever received has been a freebie in a Fairyloot box!

Have less than 60% feedback rating on Netgalley ✓

Yeah, uh, it me. I got really bad about this in the middle of the year and I still haven’t managed to claw my ratio back up to an acceptable number. Something to work on for 2019!

Rated a book on goodreads and promised a full review was to come on your blog (and never did)

No? I don’t tend to pre-review books much on Goodreads, nowadays I only use it to track the date I read a book, quick status updates, and give them a star rating. I nearly always forget to put full reviews on Goodreads and then go back and do them in batches when I do remember!

Continue reading →

Down the TBR Hole #25

Emma2 Comments

Welcome folks to the twenty-fifth 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. Afterworlds by Scott Westerfeld

Why is it there? The concept of this was too good to pass on: it tells of a young, aspiring author who gets a book deal for her YA novel, moves to New York, and ends up in the world of publishing and maybe falling in love along the way? Meanwhile, in alternate chapters, her YA novel is told to the reader too. And I presume there’s some kind of connection and parallel to be drawn etc. etc. and it all sounds so very meta. I haven’t read anything Scott Westerfeld before and I’m sure this would be a good way for me to get into trying his writing out as I love books about books.
Do I own it? Yes
Verdict? Keep

2. The Bookshop Book by Jen Campbell

Why is it there? I absolutely adore Jen Campbell’s Booktube so it’s no surprise that when she said she was writing a book about bookshops, I jumped at adding this to my TBR list. I still haven’t read it, mostly because I have to be really in the mood for anything non-fiction, but this definitely feels like a book I will pick up and put down when the moment strikes and I’ll love hearing about some of her favourite bookshops.
Do I own it? Yes
Verdict? Keep

3. The Paper Magician by Charlie N. Holmberg

Why is it there? A while back, this first book in a series was always either cheap or free on Kindle, so it kept popping up on my Amazon lists when I scrolled through the ebooks on offer. I briefly looked into it and, from the blurb, was told it was about paper magic. That seemed like a damn good enough reason for a book-obsessed girl to add it to her (at the time) not very large TBR. However, since then, I’ve read books with out-of-the-box magic systems and enjoyed them so, as harsh as this sounds, I feel like this book looks like a case of a great concept but perhaps (maybe possibly) with not good enough writing to pull it off. That sounds way harsh but yeah I think that’s what has put me off picking this one up for all this time… eek!
Do I own it? No
Verdict? Ditch Continue reading →

Tag | The F.R.I.E.N.D.S Book Tag

Emma6 Comments

I saw this tag recently over on Kristin’s blog, but it was originally created by Roxanne from An Average Life. I love Friends, and it’s definitely a show that I keep coming back to for nostalgia and comfort reasons – I don’t think that will ever change, although my opinions on each of the characters and their decisions always seems to as I get older! But before I end up just ranting how terrible Ross is, let’s just get on with the tag instead.

Continue reading →