The Book Chat {22}

March 7, 2013 Filed Under: The Book Chat Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

readerlives

I’m quite late on The Book Chat today, but the topic of the week is just too good not to write SOMETHING. Link up with Jessica on Sweet Green Tangerine and her co-host for the day, Lindsey from Lounging With Lindsey!

Today’s Topic: Abandoning Books

I’ve never considered myself to be a picky reader; I don’t judge a book by its cover, and I am ALWAYS accepting recommendations (which I read). But if I start reading a book and it doesn’t get me in the first 75 pages? I have to put it down.

There was one summer, I think it was 4 years ago, I had a very unlucky streak of picking up two books in a row on vacation that I could NOT finish:

- Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley
–> All signs pointed to me loving this book. EVERYONE loves this book. But it loses me every time I try to get into it!

- La Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky 
–> I was certain I’d love this after reading ‘Sarah’s Key’ by Tatianna De Rosnay. But this book lost me too. Maybe because it’s a translation? I don’t know. I could barely get through 50 pages of it. Too bad.

There are some books that I really, REALLY wanted to love, but simply could not finish. This past Christmas I had another unlucky streak where I tried two books that I was certain I’d love, and I couldn’t even finish them:

- The Kill Order by James Dashner
–> I have loved EVERY book this author wrote. The prequel to one of my absolute favorite dystopian series? I couldn’t even finish it. I’m so disappointed.

- Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares by David Levithan & Rachel Cohn
–> I saved this book for an entire year, waiting for the holidays to enjoy it. I disliked it so very much, and finally decided that it was time to put it away for good. I did the same thing with ‘Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist’, also written by these two. Maybe it’s their writing together? I love the premise for both novels!

I can’t say it’s happened much more often than that, that I’ve abandoned a book. I’m lucky to know the kinds of books I will enjoy, but every once in a while, a book disappoints. Like the time I read ‘Insurgent’ by Veronica Roth after enjoying her debut novel ‘Divergent’ so much… I finished Insurgent, but BARELY. That was one of my least favorite sequels I have ever read. A series with such potential, but that book was just so poorly edited. I know not many people agree with me, and that’s when I realized that my book standards are significantly higher than I realized!

And of course, there are some books that I really debated NOT ever picking up, but am so happy I did!

- The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

- Cinder by Marissa Meyer

- Wither by Lauren DeStefano

- Graceling by Kristin Cashore

- Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor 

(Turns out I really love dystopian and fantasy?! I should stop doubting that I’ll love them. Clearly I will!)

… Actually, this list is significantly longer. I have a habit of doubting a great book because the premise seems SO strange. Those are always my favorites, as proved by this list. Definitely the strangest series I have ever read, but in the best, most enchanting way possible.

What books have you abandoned? Which have you read that you SHOULD have abandoned? And finally, which are you happy you picked up?!

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The Book Chat {Vol 13}

June 7, 2012 Filed Under: The Book Chat Tagged With: , , , , ,

Thursdays are Book Chat days! They are normally hosted by Jessica over at Sweet Green Tangerine, however this week I’ll be guest hosting while she’s off at Bonnaroo! You can link up at the very bottom of my post, as you would on her blog. Can’t wait to see what you all come up with!

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Today’s question: What is a book you read & loved but didn’t expect to? Or maybe one you thought you’d really enjoy and then didn’t. 

I’m going to answer both parts to this question because… Well, why not?

First, a book I loved and didn’t expect to. This actually happens to me quite a bit, especially when someone recommends me a book that doesn’t seem to be my normal style. I could probably make a list of the times this has happened, but there was one particular book a few years ago that I thought I would literally hate and it ended up changing my perspective on YA literature.

That book was The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. 

I read it in the first 2 months it came out, four years ago. I had just started working at the bookstore that I still work at today, and one of the older employees told me about this new book she had read & loved called the Hunger Games. She said there was no way to tell me about it and convince me it was good, I would just have to give it a shot. I hadn’t read a teen book in YEARS, but since I wanted to gain some product knowledge I bought the book. I DEVOURED it.

No one would read that book for a few more months. I became an ambassador of sorts for HG at work afterwards, convincing the entire staff to read it. This earned me the right to read an advanced copy of Catching Fire a month before its release- the first person in our store!- and I also got to organize many more Hunger Games events afterwards. I don’t even mean this in a “I’m obnoxious & I told you so” way but when I read that book, I knew it was going to be a hit. I wanted everyone I knew to read it & I made most of my best friends follow my suit. Of course they all loved it too! Today, it’s one of the biggest movie franchises since Harry Potter and Twilight, and I’m pretty proud to say that I was there from the start.

You could say that it paid off to take someone’s advice on books. Always listen to your local bookstore employees, folks! We do our research :)

Second, a book I expected to love and didn’t. This actually happened very recently to me, and I hope people won’t read this and start boycotting my blog but I REALLY disliked…

Insurgent by Veronica Roth.

I know, I know. Divergent was SO GOOD! How is this POSSIBLE! How dare you SAY THIS TO ME! Well, I’m sorry, but it’s true. I’m not in the business of reading a book and pretending it was awesome because it was supposed to be. I think Veronica Roth is an incredibly talented writer and she has a LOT of great ideas, but she did not put enough time or editing into this book.

If you haven’t read it yet, don’t let me bias you at this point. Most people I know have read it and loved it. To be honest I’m not totally sure why, but I can only assume it’s because they were so captivated by her first book. I loved Divergent SO MUCH- I read it as an advanced readers’ the month before it came out and GUSHED about it to everyone- but I just couldn’t get into her second book. Her plot went around in circles most of the time, she repeated herself CONSTANTLY and I found myself more confused about her dystopian world than I thought possible. This book was twice as big as it should have been, there was far too much unnecessary detail, and she kind of ruined her badass main character for me. That being said, Roth redeemed herself during some of the fight scenes. She writes incredibly when it comes to the ACTION parts, but the first 300 pages dragged endlessly for me.

I’ll probably check out her third novel anyway, simply because I’m curious where she goes with it & she announced she was taking additional time to write and edit this one. I’m proud of her for doing that, despite angry readers who just want the finale NOW.

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What were your favorite and least favorite unexpected novels? Share in comments, or link up a post below!

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Currently… #3

April 9, 2012 Filed Under: Everyday Stories, Random Ramblings, Reading/Books Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

Hope everyone had a lovely Easter weekend! It kind of seems like a while since I’ve just written about life in general, and I always happen to find this type of post an easy way to play catch up on what’s been going on!

Currently… 

Reading

- As I write this, I’m about to finish up an advanced reader’s copy of Insurgent by Veronica Roth. It’s the sequel Divergent which came out last May. To be honest, I haven’t been loving it. I had REALLY high expectations for this book, but I set those aside long ago. I think a lot of people will really love it, but I’m kind of feeling like Roth is steering this series into a place that I wasn’t expecting, and it’s not really my style. That being said, it really picked up around page 300 so I’m excited to finish it. 100 more pages to go!

Listening

- Our Lady Peace. Their new album is pretty good, but I’ve been listening to their Greatest Hits since last Monday when they were in Montreal for a show. I didn’t have the chance to watch their set which is a SHAME because they always put on a fantastic show. I did however get to watch Raine Maida sound check the song “Thief’ and honestly, current favorite song. He is a musical genius. I also had the opportunity to interview Jeremy, the drummer of OLP. He was one of my very first interviews about three years ago when I first started working for CONFRONT, so it kind of felt like my journalist career was coming around full circle. Interviewing the same big-time Canadian artist twice is something that I am VERY fortunate to be able to say that I have done.

- The Ting Tings. I reviewed their newest album ‘Sounds From Nowheresville’ on my blog last week & I must admit it’s grown on me even more since then. I also had the chance to interview Katie, half of the musical duo, on Saturday night on the phone. She was SUCH a sweetheart it was an absolute pleasure. She has the most charming British accent, I’ll be honest it kind of felt like I was interviewing a Spice Girl. Plus she loves SG so it worked out well, ha. :)

- I’ve actually had a few other albums on repeat this last week or so, and I’ll be doing a little re-cap on the rest of them later in the week, probably! So much amazing music has been popping up in the last month or two, it’s time I start sharing some of it!

Watching

- Community. Why am I so late on this show? IT IS HILARIOUS YOU GUYS. I’m well into season 1 now and I am just secretly so happy I have three whole seasons of the funny-ness to watch. It is so weird but so, so fun to watch.

- Best Friends Forever. I downloaded the pilot episode a few days ago (the show just started) and I was laughing the entire way through. It’s a new sitcom, and I really hope there are new episodes coming up. It’s so funny!

Needing

- I seem to write this with every ‘Currently’ post I write, but I still find myself needing more time. I’m hoping to resolve this issue with my April goals of tackling procrastination, but so far I haven’t had much luck because I seem to be LOSING time rather than finding more of it. Long story short, I ended up losing 5 prime hours on Saturday morning/afternoon and I could have really used my day off to do homework and chores and things like that.

- To book a vacation. I found myself gazing at this cup I keep on my desk where I collect various shells, rocks & coins from my travels around the world. There are a lot of things from all the beaches I visited from Greece as well as the volcano I climbed, and I’m just itching to find new things to add in there. I need to travel!

- More days spent with my nephew! It seems like forever since I’ve written about my favorite little boy, but he is still growing and getting more of a personality each time I see him. I wish I had more free days to see him, but with finals that just isn’t possible. Luckily photos like the ones below happen to surface on Facebook and in my e-mail with the heading ‘BAD BOY FOR LIFE’ and that makes it a little bit easier. I can’t wait for the summer to see his cute little face more!

Avoiding

- Homework. Studying. But is that anything new? Not at all. This week though, regardless of my ridiculous work schedule, I’m getting my work done and I’m going to NOT procrastinate. That’s the deal I have with myself & I refuse to take no for an answer. From myself. That sounded less weird in my head…

Loving

- Drinking too much coffee. Why must it be just SO delicious?!

- The fact that classes are over for 5 whole months. WHAT! In 2 exams I am free for 4 months!

- MY BRAND NEW HARRY POTTER SCENE IT GAME. Yes. Love. Indulging in my obsession/addiction, needing to find more people to play with!

Now that you’re all caught up… What’s currently going on in your life?! 

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