Friday, July 31, 2015

Booktubeathon

If I'm going to go all in on readathons then I might as well just do all of them I think.
I mean, normal people read until their eyes hurt, right?
Readathons are fun because I enjoy the challenge aspect and I like searching for books that go along with them.  Even if I don't actually end up reading them (and I didn't with the last one but I still read a ton of books so I'm okay with it), it's just exciting to see a happy little stack of books on my dresser that are waiting for me to read.
Booktubeathon is starting in a few days and even though I work every day that week they're short shifts so I'll still have lots of time left over to read, read, read.

The Challenges:

1) Read a book with blue on the cover
     I just checked out two new library books that both have blue on the cover so I could go with either one.   The Other Daughter is shortish and is a historical fiction which is a genre I normally fly through.  The Truth According to Us is on the longer side so I don't know if I want to use it for the readathon or wait until it's over.  It really just depends on my mood.  Sometimes picking a book is based on how I feel at that moment.

2) Read a book by an author who shares the same first letter of your last name
      I think I'm going to go with Cry Wolf because the book was a quarter and I want to read it and ship it on out.  Also it looks short.

3) Read someone else’s favorite book
     There's not many people I talk to in person about books so I don't actually know anyone's favorites but I do know my mom loves Lincoln Child and Douglas Preston books.  She's the one who made me start reading them and I enjoy them a lot now, too.  So I'm grabbing Brimstone.  I know it's part of a series and I've read a couple of them out of order already.  They are usually pretty good as standalones.

4) Read the last book you acquired
     Going to kill two birds with one stone and use my book from the first challenge for this one, too.

5) Finish a book without letting go of it
     This might be a readaloud with Bug since we read together all the time or I might pick up My House in Umbria if I have time because it's a tiny slip of a book.

6) Read a book you really want to read
     The easiest challenge for me.  I'm finally going to read A Thousand Splendid Suns.  I've been putting it off for ages since it's the only Khaled Hosseini book I haven't read yet and finishing all of his books makes me hurt.  It's time though since I want to do a reread of all of them in a row one day.

7) Read seven books
     I'm going to hold off on naming a book for this since I will be busy with work and I don't want to commit to another book.  There's a couple of library books en route to me that could work for this or I could just use the ones Bug and I read together.  

Thursday, July 30, 2015

TBR Takedown Update

I started TBR Takedown a day early since I knew the last day I wouldn't have time to read much so even though I started it before I was supposed to, I still ended up reading the same amount of days so I'm calling it fair :D

The books I read for this readathon were:

       1:  Ink and Bone by Rachel Caine
       2:  Jane Eyre:  The Graphic Novel by Charlotte Bronte
       3:  Blue Exorcist Volume 1 by Kazue Kato
       4:  The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly by Stephanie Oakes
       5:  A Paris Affair by Tatiana de Rosnay
       6:  The Help by Kathryn Stocket
       7:  Frozen Fever by Walt Disney Company
       8:  Glitter Beach by Rosie Banks
       9:  Equestria Girls by Perdita Finn

My youngest daughter and I read aloud together every single night and even more when it's summer since she's bored during the day so we finished off three chapter books this week.

My reviews for some of them are under the links.  I'm not big on written reviews, I would rather babble on in your face for an hour but I try to at least do a tiny review for most of the books I read!

I actually didn't realize I had read so much until I listed them all out.   My two favorites were without a doubt Ink and Bone and The Help.  I couldn't put them down and you could find me many a day during the readathon sitting out on my back porch or in my recliner with them stuck firm in my hands.




During the week I also had a great time at my libary's Christmas in July sale.  All of the books in the used bookstore are half off so paperbacks are a quarter, hardbacks are fifty cents, and newish books are around one to three dollars.
I spent nine dollars.


Nine beautiful dollars well spent because LOOK at this pile.  A couple of these I've already read but I wanted my own copies since I'm cheap and use the library 95% of the time.  A few I've never even heard of but for being so cheap I couldn't pass them up!  There's a couple I plan on using for the Booktubeathon next week!

Tuesday, July 28, 2015

Instastic

Some of my favorite things lately:

Someone on Facebook was selling a huge stack of scrapbook paper for $8.  I think there was almost 100 sheets and most of the packs had multiple designs so I jumped on it.  They've already used a bunch of these for birthday cards and special "I love you" cards for family members.


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The Buried Giant wasn't the best book I've read this year but it IS one of the most beautiful.  I wish I had this cover on a t-shirt because I just want to look at it all day.
Also I made those cupcakes.  It was a s'more.  I don't even like s'mores and I wanted to bury my face in them.


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One of my big reading goals is to read all of the Newbery Classics.  I love how most of them deal with nature and are incredibly diverse.  Unfortunately this book was about as a dry as a cracker.  I made myself finish it just to mark it off my list but otherwise I would have built a bonfire and roasted it.


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Remember when I read North and South and I LOVED it and wanted my own beautiful copy?  Well I finally got it!  It holds a place of honor on my Favorites shelf.  I also watched the miniseries which made me fall in love with the story all over again.


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I recently discovered Sarah Addison Allen's books and became completely obsessed.  When I say obsessed I mean I read every book my library had by her in less than a week.  I think there's one more I need to order and after that I will be up to date.  Her writing is cheesy, not going to lie, but sometimes you need a little fluff in your life.  I read a lot of stiff classics and books where people are killed every other page (hello Game of Thrones book two...) so it was nice to just have a week where I read nothing but happy stories.


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And last pretty picture for this post is the new magazine I bought on a whim.  I'm not big on buying unread books or magazines since I have the library for that but they grabbed me with Machu Picchu.  I wasn't aware until I got it home that it was so expensive...  Worth it!
I bought a subscription to the National Geographic History version of the magazine and it. blows. my. mind.  I have gotten two so far and they're definitely magazines that will be kept on my bookshelf for years and years.

Thursday, July 23, 2015

#TBRTakedown

I am going to try and do another readathon since I enjoyed the last one so much and this one is a weeklong one instead of a 24 hour one so I wanted to see how I managed.
Deciding which books to use for the challenges makes me so happy and even though I might not stick with my picks I had a lot of fun stacking them up on my dresser!

The challenges are:
1. First Book in a series
     My library has a small manga section (and when I say small I mean they have maybe 2 or 3 of any series I want to read) but I noticed they had a handful of the Blue Exorcist series so I figured it was worth a shot.  After I finished Death Note I've been wanting to start a new one.
2. Sequel Book in a series
      I preordered Go Set a Watchman and I'm dying to read it but I want to reread To Kill a Mockingbird first so I might wait until after the readathon to do those two.  To be honest the second book in the Blue Exorcist series might end up fulfilling this challenge since I went ahead and picked it up along with the first. 
3. Out of your comfort zone
       I tried reading The Help ages and ages ago and didn't make it past about fifteen pages because of the language but everyone I've seen who've read it proclaims it amazing and I would kind of like to watch the movie.  So I am going to try it again...
4. On your shelf over a year (or the longest)
       This one might change as well but I think I'm going to go with Peter Pan since I've had it for ages and I reallyyy want the beautiful interactive book from Barnes and Noble.  I figure if I have never even read it then I can't buy it yet.  But I really want it.  Or maybe I will pick up To Kill a Mockingbird because even though I've already read it I am planning on rereading it and it's technically been on my shelf for over a year.  I'm all about loopholes. 
5. Most recently hauled book
       Even though I told myself NO. MORE. LIBRARY. BOOKS. it didn't hold and as soon as I saw the newest Tatiana de Rosnay book I squealed like a little girl and snatched it up in my greedy little hands.  Fortunately it's more of a novella than a full novel so it shouldn't take me long enough to feel guilty about.

I got a few more library books yesterday and I hope I manage to get to them in the next week, too.  I picked up the graphic novel of Jane Eyre because it's my favorite book and I need to physically touch every version ever made.
There were also a couple of new releases I had on my TBR that I noticed the library had in so I went ahead and snagged them but I'm a little iffy on one (I don't want to support a well-known plagiarizer even if the plot sounds interesting). 
Here's to hoping it's a productive reading week!

Tuesday, July 14, 2015

Bug's New Dollhouse

My mother is the queen of sending random things to our house that she doesn't want anymore.  Most of the time I put it in a yard sale or discreetly throw it away but I had high hopes for this old-fashioned country shelf.




She had it hanging up in her kitchen with matching themed decoration's on it but I thought it would look cute hanging in Bug's room.  One can of black spray paint might not have been enough.  It probably needed two, but honestly Bug doesn't care that much if it's perfectly painted and if she's happy then I'm happy.


It's hung pretty low to the ground so that it's just her size to move dolls around and decorate it however she wishes.  She loves her new dollhouse and has been excitedly telling me all the stories her and Mini Kitty will act out with it.