I must confess to not finishing Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban in French, though I will not admit to failing. Although I didn’t read the entire book, I did read 83 more pages of French than I would have read otherwise. As an excuse I must add that I did only discover this challenge in July, leaving me only 2 of the busiest months of year to read my book in.
Although I didn’t finish the book I did learn some interesting new words.
Muggles – Moldus
Hogwarts – Poudlard
The Dark Lord – Le Mage Noir
Wand – Baguette magique
Broom – Balai
Hogsmeade – Pré au Lard
The Knight Bus – Magicobus
Gryffindor – Gryffondor
Hufflepuff – Poufsouffle
Ravenclaw – Serdaigle
Slytherin – Serpentard
I think I will have to have another go next year, but start at the very beginning of the summer, meaning hopefully I might finish a book.
Since I have now read over 32 books, I have decided to aim to read 64 books for the BOTY Challenge. I have written a list of the books I’ve read over the summer and one word to describe them. The books aren’t in any particular order, so here we go:
19) Book of general ignorance – entertaining
20) The Maze Runner – fast paced
21) The Scorch Trials – dramatic
22)The Death Cure – exciting
23) Angelfall – awesome
24) Marked – a quick read
25)Monument 14 –
26) Into the Fae – funny
27)Paper Towns – enjoyable
28)The 5th Wave – thrilling
29)Before I die – emotional
30) The Raven Boys – unusual
31) Girl about Time – light-hearted
32) Kill Order – action packed
33)The World After – action packed
34) You against Me – thought provoking
35) Magic Study – fantastic
36) Uglies – good
37) Fire Study – fantastic
38) The Assassin’s Blade – fascinatingly awesome
Have you read any of these books?
If so what did you think of them in one word?
And would you like me to review any of them?
I got nominated for The Liebster Award by the very lovely Mina at aesaza and by my blogging buddy Gwen from Gwenkate’s library! Thanks so much, I’m so flattered and extremely proud. I have decided to answer Gwen’s questions, because I received the award of her most recently.
The Liebster Award is a nomination from one new blogger to another. It’s to help people find new blogs to follow!
1. Link & Thank the blogger who nominated you
2. Answer the 11 questions your nominator gives you
3. Tag 11 other bloggers who have 200 or less followers
4. Ask the 11 bloggers you nominated 11 questions and let them know you nominated them!
1.) How do you organize your bookshelves — alphabetical by author last name, rainbow order by spine colour, by book genre, etc.?
I organise my bookshelves alphabetically by author’s last name, although sometimes when I have a large pile of unread books that I have just bought/received I leave them in a pile on top of my shelves so I can easily find them.
2.) How do you get books — do you automatically purchase, check out from a library, borrow from a friend, etc.?
I do an awful lot of purchasing, although usually I buy very cheap books from bargain book shops such as The Works. I do however have one friend who I borrow quite a few books from.
3.) Favorite book format — hardcover, paperback, ebook, audiobook, etc.?
I would have to say paperback, although each format had it’s merits. Hardbacks last longer and look better on your shelves, while ebooks are cheaper and lighter, while audiobooks you can listen too whilst you are doing other stuff. Paperback win because they are lighter than hardbacks, cheaper then audiobooks and better than ebooks.
4.) How do you choose what books to read next?
I have a huge TBR list, so I usually just pick a book on there that takes my fancy on any given day,
5.) What do you look for in other blogs — what do you like and what don’t you like (review style, layout, graphic design, post types, etc.)?
I’m not too picky when it comes to graphic design or layout. The main things I’m interested in are character, something that makes the person writing it an individual and that they read and review the types of books I’m interested in.
6.) What is your biggest book pet peeve or turn-off?
My biggest book pet peeves I have already mentioned here.
7.) What is your favorite book cover or book cover trend?
I absolutely love the Finding Sky cover, that I have already featured in one of my other posts, which can be found here. I don’t really mind too much about covers, however I don’t like covers with real people on.
8.) Do you eat while reading? If so, what is your favourite?
I don’t really when eating, but if I do I like to be something that involves little concentration to eat, so I can mainly focus on the book.
9.) Top three books you want to see as a movie (that haven’t been made yet)?
1. Finding Sky
2. The Infernal Devices
3.Throne of Glass
10.) Do you re-read books?
Definitely! I reread the majority of my books at least. If I’m not interested in rereading them, they usually end up going to a charity shop to make space on my shelves for books I will prefer.
11.) Story behind your blog name?
I feel bad that there is no particularly interesting story behind it, because I know Gwenkate’s blog has a really cool story behind it. For me, I decided I wanted to write a book blog and just kinda came up with the title because I thought it was an appropriate description of me.
I am tagging
RJ at Heir of Ravenclaw
Chloe at As Free as a Girl with Wings
Alyssa at The Ramblings of a Literature Nerd
Dani at Only books and horses
Fangirl Fever
Cassie at The Magical Adventures of Cassie the Weird
Avid Reader
Molly at Woven Magic Books
Book Nook Probs
The Quirky Reader Booklover
My 11 questions are:
Which fictional character are you most like?
Which fandoms are you in?
What is your favourite book cover?
Which 5 books would you take with you to a desert island?
What is your favourite children’s picture book?
What do you like most and like least about book blogging?
When was the last time you cried reading a book?
Which book are you most embarrassed to say you haven’t read?
Why and when did you decide to start your blog?
What are three things about you that not many people know?
What one book would you recommend I read?
I absolutely love Wattpad. It gives me the opportunity to read books for free that have been written by aspiring authors. There are absolutely loads of books on there, and it’s really hard to find the good ones. So I thought I would recommend some of my favourite book.
This is a great book. When it gets published I will definitely be buying it (I say when, because it must get published at some point. It’s better than some published books I’ve read.) It is A Rose as Black as Your Heart.
After the death of her beloved father, 16 year old Alexis Rivera is sent to England to get over her sadness and turn into the sassy, sarcastic girl everyone knew, but didn’t exactly love. Once in England, the place where her brother Matt lives and where her father died, Alexis meets the scorchingly hot Daniel, who coaxes her back to her normal self with his teasing character and mysterious dark side.
While struggling to reign in her growing feelings for Daniel, Alexis begins to discover things about the town aren’t quite right; the mysterious hot boys (Daniel included), the terrified townsfolk, a collection of old dusty books she found miles away but that all seem to link to her…
And with the fact that she’s slowly falling in love Daniel and his mysterious dark edge, Alexis is in trouble.
OMG! I love this book. It is so different to other paranormal romances. Don’t worry, he’s not a werewolf or a vampire or something cliché like that. Alexis is amazing, she makes really makes me laugh.
I genuinely believe it would be worth it to get Wattpad just to read this one book. It’s free, so you should all give it a go.
Girl About Time
I was recommended I read Girl About Time (or Ruby Red as she calls it) by Gwen from Gwenkate’s library. Thank you so much to her! I really enjoyed this book, it was exactly what I needed after reading quite a few heavy dystopian books. This book was to put it simply, good fun. If you are looking for a thought provoking or beautifully written book, this isn’t the book for you. But I enjoyed reading it and it made me smile. The only thing I regret is the fact I now have to wait ages to buy the next two books.
The main character Gwyneth’s normalness is great. I can really relate to her and would definitely like to be friends with her. She isn’t like your average heroine. She isn’t especially brave or strong or smart, she is perfectly average and that is refreshing.
There isn’t much action in this book, I feel as if this book was setting the scene for the next books. Despite the lack of action I enjoyed this book, it was a great summer read.
You Against Me
This is the second book by Jenny Downham that I have read this summer. I found this on my friend’s bookshelf, after thinking I wanted to read it because of the good things I had heard about it. Before I even talk about this book, I must say I love Jenny Downham’s writing style. If you are looking for beautiful prose, she is not the author for you, but she writes it like it is. Her writing is honest and realistic.
The characters in this book were great. I’m not saying I liked them all, but they were all great characters. None of them were perfect and none of them were evil. Even the one who has committed the crime isn’t completely evil, he has emotions like all the other characters. The plot of this story is fantastic and I love Mikey and Ellie’s relationship. This book carefully deals with the issue of rape, showing not only how it affected the victim and her family but also the assailant and his family. This book was genuinely amazing and so different to other books out there.
World After
After absolutely loving the first book by Susan Ee, I immediately bought Angelfall’s sequel. I was not disappointed. This book was just as great as Angelfall. The only thing that disappointed me was the lack of Raffe. I loved his and Penryn’s banter, but in this book he doesn’t show up until the last 20%.
This book is darker than the first book and is surprisingly gory for a YA book. I am not a big fan of gore, however I feel it was necessary in this book to really portray everything Penryn is going through, My love for Penryn has only grown as I read this book. She is an awesome character, who sometimes makes the wrong choices when she has to make tough choices. She is a complicated character, but she is willing to do anything for her family.
This book isn’t all doom and gloom though. This book made me laugh out when I was reading it on the London Underground, attracting some strange looks.
“I’ve mentioned that names have power, right? Do you realize that when she fights battles, she’s going to have to announce herself to the opposing sword? She’ll be forced to say something ridiculous like, ‘I am Pooky Bear, from an ancient line of archangel swords.’ Or, ‘Bow down to me, Pooky Bear, who has only two other equals in all the worlds.'” He shakes his head. “How is she going to get any respect?”
Now I am worried about how long I have to wait until the next book. It is due to be relased on the 14th of May 2015! How long away is that?! 😦
Just a couple of things I wanted to say and a few questions I wanted to ask.
Firstly, as of September I am planning on doing Top Ten Tuesday which is a weekly meme run by BrokeandBookish. I know this is an extremely popular meme, so I am looking forward to joining all the others in making lists of 10 things every Tuesday. If you can think of any other good memes that you think I should do just let me know.
Secondly, I have written a few reviews so far, but haven’t given any of them ratings. Personally I think it is really difficult to rate a book out of five as there are usually good points and bad points, which can’t be summarised in a number. What do you think? Should I start rating books?
Finally, I would just like to thank all my followers. I have recently reached 25 followers, which might not seem like a big number to most people, but it was very exciting for me. Yay! So proud, I didn’t really think anyone would be interested in hearing me ramble about books, but here we are!
That’s all from me for now,
Em X
I found this on Brillantly Novel‘s blog and thought it looked cool, so I have decided to give it a go.
1. A book with a girl’s name in the title: Finding Sky By Joss Stirling
I absolutely love this trilogy. I have reread each book at least 3 times. They are so different to other paranormal romances and just make me smile.
2. A book with a animal in the title: To Kill a Mockingbird
Although this book is on my bookshelf, I have yet to read it. I am looking forward to reading it as it will be first classic and I have heard great things about it.
3. A book with a place in the title: City of Bones
I love Cassandra Clare, her world building and characters are absolutely great. I have all of The Mortal Instruments and The Infernal Devices and can’t wait for the next series.
4. A book with an adjective in the title: Beautiful Creatures
I haven’t read this series in a while, but I remember enjoying the books and hating the movie. I do like the cover, the pretty writing and the gorgeous colour.
5. A book with a colour in the title: Blue Bloods
I bought this book recently in a set with 2 other vampire books for only three pounds. I haven’t got round to reading yet, but it looks okay.
6. I do not own any books that have a feeling in the title. 😦
7. A book with a verb in the title: Breathe
I read this book quite a while ago, so I can’t exactly remember the plotline, but it’s a dystopia about a world where you can’t breathe oustside.
8. A book with a boy’s name in the title: Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone
I absolutely adore the Harry Potter Series. I have been to the Harry Potter theme park in Universal and really want to go on the studio tour in London.
9. A book with a number in the title: The 5th Wave
I read this book recently and loved it! Cassie is such a strong, determined heroine and this book is so unique. I cant wait for the sequel to come out!
10. A book with a word repeated in the title: Hush, Hush
I quite liked the first book, but I got less interested as the series went on, as I didn’t really like the characters. I do though have three of the four books in my shelf.
This was an interesting book for me, because I have heard so many gushing reviews about this book, yet for the first 150 pages I was forcing myself to pick it up and read. Don’t get me wrong, after these first 150 or so pages the story really picked up and the book was quite good, but I really disliked the first 150 pages, they were so confusing and boring. I had to really push myself to keep reading. I have only read really good reviews, so I almost feel bad saying this.
This book was so different to any other YA book, you will ever read. I am big reader of paranormal romance and even I found so unique. It is so unusual. The paranormal aspects were realistic, there were no vampires or werewolves, instead a group of highly intuitive women with alight supernatural connections. The characters, were all absolutely awesome! I love Adam and Gansey and Ronan and Blue. They were great characters, they didn’t suffer from being really one dimensional, which tragically is a problem some authors have nowadays. The characters are complex, with pasts as well as presents. It was great to see male main characters that weren’t just the protagonist’s love interest. I loved each and every one of the Raven Boys, for different reasons.
But although I didn’t particularly enjoy the first part of the book, I will be being the next one. This ending left me with so many questions, such as:
What will Adam’s sacrifice mean for his future?
Will Gansey ever find Glendower?
Who is Blue’s dad?
What happened to Neeve?
What is going to happen with Noah?
What was with Ronan’s handwriting on the rock?
Author you’ve read the most books from:
Cassandra Clare (9 books)
Best Sequel Ever:
Catching Fire By Suzanne Collins
Currently Reading:
The Raven Boys By Maggie Stiefvater
Drink of Choice While Reading:
I don’t really drink much when I’m reading, but a mug of warm Vimto in the winter or a cool can of pop in the summer.
E-reader or Physical Book?
Both. E-readers are great for when you are on holiday, but the feel and smell of a proper book just can’t be beaten.
Fictional Character You Probably Would Have Actually Dated In High School:
Well, I’m still in high school so let me think… Probably Simon Lewis from The Mortal Instruments as he is slightly nerdy yet sweet.
Glad You Gave This Book A Chance:
The 5th Wave By Rick Yancey
Hidden Gem Book:
Starcrossed By Josephine Angelini
Important Moment in your Reading Life:
Falling in love with my first ever book series Harry Potter.
Just Finished:
Paper Towns By John Green
Kinds of Books You Won’t Read:
I won’t read horror books or other books that are extremely gory.
Longest Book You’ve Read:
The Order of the Phoenix (870 pages)
Major book hangover because of:
The Fault in Our Stars
Number of Bookcases You Own:
One very big that is floor to ceiling and takes up half of my wall.
One Book You Have Read Multiple Times:
Harry Potter
Preferred Place To Read:
In my bed or on my giant beanbag
Quote that inspires you/gives you all the feels from a book you’ve read:
Happiness can be found even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light. – Harry Potter
Reading Regret:
I don’t really have any reading regrets.
Series You Started And Need To Finish(all books are out in series):
The Chronicles of Ixia
Three of your All-Time Favorite Books:
Harry Potter
The Mortal Instruments
The Hunger Games
Unapologetic Fangirl For:
Harry Potter
Very Excited For This Release More Than All The Others:
The new Shadowhunter series
Worst Bookish Habit:
Hmm, I don’t know, I don’t think I’m actually that bad. Although others may disagree.
X marks The Spot: Start at the top left of your shelf and pick the 27th book:
Catching Fire By Suzanne Collins
Your Latest Book Purchase:
Wither By Lauren Destefano
ZZZ-snatcher book (last book that kept you up WAY late) :
The City of Heavenly Fire
alwaysopinionatedgirl 