The Intimidating TBR Tag Part 2

I did this about a year ago and I’m pleased to say that I’ve either read or removed from my TBR all the books in that post with one exception. So I thought I’d do it again and see what intimidating books I have to tackle next.

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1. A book on your TBR pile you haven’t finished

American Gods by Neil Gaiman. I think I got about a third through it, then stopped. And now I’m just too intimidated to pick it up cause I’m thinking what if I don’t remember enough to continue it and I have to re-read it. And it’s so chunky and every time I think about picking it up, I just don’t.

2. A book you just haven’t had the time to read 

Relativity: The Special and General Theory by Albert Einstein. This is the kind of book that requires a lot of concentration to read and I just haven’t had the time to dedicate to it.

3. A book you haven’t read because it’s a sequel 

The Magician King by Lev Grossman. I actually don’t own the ft book. I found this at a thrift store for super cheap, so I bought it.

4. A book you haven’t read because it’s brand new

I actually haven’t bought any books for well over a month now. I’m trying to get through some of my TBR before buying anything new. So I don’t currently have any brand new books or even any recently purchased books on my TBR at the moment.

5. A book by and author you read previously but didn’t really like

I don’t think I have any for this one either. i tend not to buy books by authors I haven’t liked in the past. I mean it obviously depends how interested I am by the new book and how much I disliked the previous one. But in any case, I don’t currently have any books that fit this category either.

6. A book on your TBR pile that your just not in the mood to read

They’re both series finales and I’m just not mentally and emotionally in the right place to read them right now. Plus, they’re HUGE.

7. A book on your TBR pile that you haven’t read because it’s enormous

I feel like either of the books from the previous question fit here, but also The Crow Girl By Erik Axl Sund.

8. A book on your TBR you bought because of the cover

I don’t think I have one for this category either. Check me out, stopping all the bad habits.

9. The book on your TBR you find the most intimidating

This answer has actually remained the same as in the previous post. The Odyssey by Homer. Because I just know that it’s going to be hard for me to follow, even though I do want to read it.

Spring Cleaning Tag

I stole this from here.

Rules:

• Please link back to Daniel @ Page to Page
• Respond to the scenarios
• Tag 5 people (or however many you like)

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It’s time to make your bed, but you’re going to have some friends over later and want to pick the perfect book to place on your nightstand for them all to see that you’re “reading”. Which book do you choose?

I don’t know honestly. I don’t really care about whether my friends know what I’m reading. But I guess, when at its most tidy, my nightstand usually holds my Bible and whatever book I’m reading at the time.

Oh no! The house needs dusting, but you just can’t put that book you’re reading down! What book would you buy on audio just so you could continue the story while cleaning?

I don’t even need to think about this because I’ve already actually done it with either The Fifth Season or The Obelisk Gate by N. K. Jemisin. Don’t remember which one exactly. But basically I would have done it with any of the books in the series. Are you surprised? Is there any post I don’t mention this series?

Darn it! The ceiling is leaking! Turns out Mass-Market Paperbacks are the best things to soak water up! Which popular book do you use to soak up the water?

I’m not sure if this question is asking me for a book I own in mass market paperback format or one I wouldn’t mind using to soak up water with. If the former, then I’d just used a rag because the only books I own in mass market paperback format are my old Lord of the Rings and Hobbit books and there’s no way in hell I’m using those as mops. If the former, then I have a nice collection. Maybe my Red Queen books. Or Caraval. The Sin Eater’s Daughter.

Bathrooms need a good scrubbing, and your 2007 Cosmos are a little outdated and need replacing. What book do you place in the bathroom for some light reading for when people need to take care of business?

Either a poetry book, such as Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur. Or What If: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions by Randall Munroe. Because both can be read in short bursts and I don’t want to encourage anyone to spend too much time in the bathroom.

Family is coming over, but you have no idea what to make for dinner! You read somewhere that tearing up the last chapter of a book whose ending you hated and sprinkling it in a casserole dish makes for the perfect meal! Which book do you choose?

Gotta love some hate casserole. I can’t think of any book where I specifically hated the ending. The only book I can think of where I hated a specific part of it but generally enjoyed the book, is A Court of Wings and Ruin. Although that part was not the ending. If you want to know which part and why, you can read my discussion on it, but beware of spoilers.

Organization is key, right? When it comes time to organize your bookshelf, you realize you have enough room (and money) to get three new books! Which books do you buy?

Hmm… hard to choose. But since I have to, the books on my wishlist I currently want the most are

• Every Heart a Doorway by Seannen McGuire
• The Shadowed Sun by N. K. Jemisin
• Alloy of Lay by Brandon Sanderson
•  Saga Vol. 4 (I get 4 because both Saga and Every Heart a Doorway are very short, so they’ll fit on my shelves 😀 )

Finally, some peace and quiet! But, before you can relax, you realize you forgot to send your Aunt a thank you gift for the lovely “ADULT LIFE FOR DUMMIES” book she gave you for Christmas (maybe she’s trying to tell you something?). What book do you send to her to show her how much (this is sarcasm) you appreciate her gift?

Well obviously I’d choose my book for the title. I’m not sure if I’d go for something sweet and to the point such as:

Or go for something more subtle like:

I guess it would depend if she sent me anything else beside the offending book.

 

The Mass Effect Book Tag

I recently started playing Mass Effect, so when I saw this, I decided to do it. I found it on here.

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1. Commander Shepard 
Paragon: A main character that puts the needs of everyone else before their own

Nona Grey from The Book of the Ancestor by Mark Lawrence. She always puts her friends first and I love her for it.

Renegade: A main character that chooses to do bad things for “the greater good”

Rhys form ACOTAR. He’s done some pretty bad things to protect those he loves. I feel like there is actually a better character for this that’s nagging at the back of my mind, but I can’t think who right now.

2. Eden Prime: the book/book series that got you into reading

This question pops up often in tags and I don’t really have an answer for it. I’ve been into reading for as long as I can remember.

3. Liara T’Soni: a book that taught you something new 

The Martian by Andy Weir. It taught me how to survive on Mars.

4. Garrus Vakarian: a character that brought joy/life to an otherwise sad/too serious book

Sand dan Glokta from The First law trilogy by Joe Abercrombie. This isn’t so much sad or serious, as it’s just grim. But I always enjoyed Glokta so much. His narrative is so dry and witty, I couldn’t help but laugh.

5. Virmire 
Kaidan Alenko: a book that was boring in the beginning but ended up becoming good

Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge. I honestly don’t remember a whole lot about this book besides that I really enjoyed it and that it started up slow. i might have to re-read it.

Ashley Williams: a book/book series that no matter how many times you’ve tried you just can’t get into it

It pains me to say this, but The Silmarillion by J. R. R. Tolkien. It’s just so dense and not really a cohesive book. I really want to know all of the things it talks about, but so far, I have tried reading it at least 6 times. And I never get very far into it. It’s just so hard to keep track of all the characters and places and timelines. I invariably end up confused and give up like 200 pages in. I have read the first part of the book so many times and I still don’t remember who all the characters are.

6. Joker: a book that made you laugh

Any Jonas Jonasson book.

7. Tali’Zorah vas Normandy: a character that grew throughout the book and ended up becoming an amazing character

I don’t want to use the same character again, but I have to mention Nona again. She was always an awesome character, but she grew so much throughout the series.

Also, Nassun from The Broken Earth. 

8. Mordin Solus and Thane Krios: a character that had a tragic death that you wish you could bring back to life

Lady from A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin. Stop killing animals, please. Thank you.

9. Reapers: a villain that you love

Sebastian Morgenstern from The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare (art by Cassandra Jean).

10. The Ending 
Destroy: a book/book series you wish you could make disappear

I don’t know. There are some books that I’d want to make disappear from my brain, but I don’t necessarily think they’re harmful and should stop existing. Maybe Fifty Shades of Grey. Although I haven’t read that. But if it’s even half as toxic and awful as I’ve heard it made out to be, then I’d want it to stop existing.

Control: an author you wish you could control in order to change something about their book/book series

Patrick Rothfuss. I would make him WRITE BOOK 3 FASTER!!!

Synthesize: two authors you wish would co-write a book

I don’t really know for this one.

 

Series I need to finish Part 3

Part 1 | Part 2

It’s been ages since I’ve done one of these and needless to say, I have a ton of new series that I need to finish. But I am proud to say that  I’ve either finished or decided I won’t continue most of the series in the previous posts (Except Daughter of Smoke and bone I’M SORRY! I’ll finish it one day, I promise!). In the interest of not making this post 100000 books long, I’ll limit myself to series that are completed as of right now.

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The Dark Artifices by Cassandra Clare

Still need to read the final book. I know. What am I doing? I even own it. I’m just not prepared for it okay. I’m not ready.

Kingdom of Ash by Sarah J. Maas

Same goes for Kingdom of Ash. I’m just not ready to read this book. I will. Sometime. I promise.

The Illuminae Files by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

I started reading Obsidio and wasn’t enjoying it as much as the previous books. I will probably enjoy it more once I get more into it, but I haven’t been in the mood for it.

The Heroes of Olympus by Rick Riordan

I’ve read the first two books. I don’t like it as much as I liked PJ, but I want to read it so I can get on to the Apollo books. I’m still enjoying them, but I’m just not picking them up very frequently. I still have 3 books left 😦 I also don’t own them and I’ve been trying to not buy books until I get my TBR down a bit. So every time I think about getting the next one, I’m reluctant to because of that.

Red Rising by Pierce Brown

I’ve read the first two books. Just one more to go. I really enjoyed this series, so I need to get on with it! I know that there’re a new trilogy or a continuation and those are not all out yet. But I don’t know if I’m going to read that. I’ll decide once I’ve finished the original trilogy.

The Broken Empire by Mark Lawrence

Only read the first book. I didn’t love it as much as his other series. At this point, I do still want to continue with this series. But I might change my mind. We’ll see.

Dreamblood by N. K. Jemisin

Read the first book and really enjoyed it (though not as much as The Broken Earth). I still want to read the second one though.

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Those are all the ones that I could remember. There are probably more. And more still that are ongoing, but I’ve yet to catch up with. But we’ll stop here. Cause I can already feel the anxiety mounting.

Books I didn’t know were popular when I read them

I’ve always been a reader, but I’ve only been a part of the online bookish community for the past 5 or so years. Becoming a part of the bookish community has definitely introduced me to a lot of books, authors and genres. But there are a few series that are wildly popular in the bookish community (or at least were at that time) that I read without actually knowing they were super popular.

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Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

This is probably the most popular and the one that is still super popular now. I started this series when there were only 3 of them out. By that point, I was already on the fringes of the book community. I had joined goodreads and that’s how I found out about it. But I didn’t realise it was so popular until after reading it. I was just browsing Goodreads and the synopsis of it intrigued me so I read it and then binged the remaining two books. And then I found out that everyone was talking about it.

Divergent by Veronica Roth

Another one that I just found on Goodreads but was unaware of its popularity until later. I had read The Hunger Games, so I was looking to books similar to that on GR and this came up as one, so I read them and then found out they were even making a film.

The Lorien Legacies by Pittacus Lore

By the time I really got into the bookish community, these were already losing popularity because of all the controversy surrounding the author. But as I was reading them, I was unaware of both their former popularity and their fall from grace.

City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

I actually originally started reading this series years ago. Like way, way back probably around when it first came out. But I wasn’t really fussed about it. I then re-read it (I didn’t even realise I was re-reading it until I started remembering things that were happening). I was unaware of its popularity on both occasions.

Tower of Dawn by Sarah. J. Maas

Rating: 2/5

First published: 2017

Genre: Fantasy, NA

***SPOILER ALERT*** This is not the first book in the series. As such, the synopsis and this review may spoil previous books. 

Synopsis: Chaol Westfall and Nesryn Faliq have arrived in the shining city of Antica to forge an alliance with the Khagan of the Southern Continent, whose vast armies are Erilea’s last hope. But they have also come to Antica for another purpose: to seek healing at the famed Torre Cesme for the wounds Chaol received in Rifthold.

After enduring unspeakable horrors as a child, Yrene Towers has no desire to help the young lord from Adarlan, let alone heal him. Yet she has sworn an oath to assist those in need—and will honor it. But Lord Westfall carries shadows from his own past, and Yrene soon comes to realize they could engulf them both.

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Alright… I think it’s finally time for me to talk about this. This book took me over a year to read. And I’m mad because it was actually good. The story and the stuff going on were interesting, the new setting was so cool. But I hate Chaol. I hate him so much that I could not read more than a few pages of his POV at a time. Every time I picked up this book, I flied through whatever other perspectives we had, and then I’d get to one of Chaol’s chapters and I felt like stabbing something. Because he’s insufferable, self-righteous, pompous and his head is so fat up his ass, it’s coming out of his mouth. And he completely ruined this book for me. However, in the interest of reviewing this book, I will try to set aside my loathing for him.

Other than Chaol, this was really cool. We discovered some really interesting new things about the world and about the Valg. There were giant eagles. How cool is that. I loved seeing the southern continent and the culture there. It’s very different from Adarlan and what we see in all the other books.

Barring Chaol, obviously, I really enjoyed the characters. I thought Yrene was a great character, minus her rather huge lapse in judgement when it comes to choosing a lover. I loved Nesryn’s character arc. We got to see her family and we got to see her grow into a fully fledged character. We don’t see much of her in the previous books, but here she’s fleshed out and she was probably my favourite character in this book.

I loved how at the end of this book, it kind of felt like the ending of a Marvel film where you know that The Avengers is coming up and all the threads from previous films are going to come together in the upcoming one and it’s just this really exciting anticipatory feeling. That’s what the ending of this film felt and I am looking forward to Kingdom of Ash. I own it, but haven’t read it yet because I’ve been waiting for a time when I’m less stressed, less busy and can really sit down with it and enjoy it. Which hopefully will be this summer.

So all in all, this was a good book. It was probably even better than Empire of Storms in terms of story. But I just hate Chaol so much that I was simply unable to enjoy reading this story. Which just makes me hate Chaol more. But if you don’t share my pure, unadulterated hatred of Chaol, you’ll probably like this.

November-December 2018 Wrap Up

The end of 2018 was pretty tough for me. I had a lot of work and also a lot of personal things going on. So I didn’t get to read as much as I would have liked. I still managed to finish 8 books in the final two months of the year, which is not too bad.

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Before They Are Hanged by Joe Abercrombie

This is the sequel to The Blade Itself which I read earlier in the year and still haven’t reviewed. I’ve been comparatively good with continuing with series this year. And I’m hoping to carry that into 2019. I’m actually currently reading the next book in this series and thoroughly enjoying it. Anyway, to talk about Before They Are Hanged, it was not as good as the first book in my opinion. It was still really good, but I did find it had a bit of a second book slump. Still, so much happened in this book. The world was expanded on, we met some new and fascinating characters and got to explore some old ones. All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I am now a Joe Abercrombie fan. I gave this book 4/5 stars. 

Hunting Prince Dracula by Kerri Maniscalco

In the spirit of continuing with series, I finished listening to this on audio. Once again, it was not as good as the first book. I still really enjoyed the characters and the narration. However, I did have a little issue with it because it was set in my homeland of Transylvania and liberties were taken with folklore and the language and stuff like that. Still, it was enjoyable and I do look forward to continue with this series. 3/5 stars.

City of Ghosts by Victoria Schwab

This is by far my last favourite Schwab book. It’s probably because it’s middle grade. I don’t feel like Victoria can do middle grade as well as she does YA or adult. It had an interesting concept and it was entertaining, I liked the characters and the setting. But I just wanted more from it. 3/5 stars.

The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton

I finally finished listening to this. It was a good book, but sadly not really my kind of book. I’m just not so much into these stories of middle class drama. It was really well written and set in Amsterdam, which was really cool to read about. But I tend to like my stakes higher in my books. This is not an epic story. It did have an interesting mystery and as I said, it’s really well written. Just not my cup of tea. I ended up giving it 3.5/5 stars, because I just had to appreciate the skill that went into writing the book.

The Wicked and the Divine: The Faust Act by Kieron Gillen

I’d heard a lot about this graphic novel series and was intrigued so I picked up the first volume. I was not as wowed by it as I was expecting to be. I really enjoyed the art in it. It’s absolutely stunning and the concept is really cool. But the execution left something to be desired in my opinion. It was just confusing. And I usually don’t mind being dropped into the middle of a story. But the way that things happened didn’t seem to flow to me. It was kind of fragmented in a way. Like we were missing chunks in the story. Characters showed up out of nowhere. And I think it was intentional and this sort of storytelling can be very gripping. But there was just something missing. It didn’t feel smoothly done in my opinion. I’m still interested in continuing with the series though. 3.5/5 stars. 

Tower of Dawn by Sarah J. Maas

I finally, FINALLY finished this book. It took me over a year to read. It was good, except that chaol was in it. If it had been someone other than Chaol, this would have been like a 4 or 4.5 star read. But because I hate Chaol so much, it was a 2/5 stars.

These Rebel Waves by Sara Raasch

Sara Raasch Has cool concepts but her books always fall short for me. They’re just meh. And this one was no exception. The characters were stereotypical, the plot was predictable. It was just… meh. 2/5 stars

The Colour of Magic by Terry Pratchett

I finished the year with a bang. I am so glad I chose this as my final read of 2018. I’ve been putting off reading Terry Pratchett for some time now, but I shouldn’t have because it was just as brilliant as everyone told me it would be. I had a blast with this book and I can’t wait to continue with the Discworld books. 5/5 stars

Largest books on my TBR – Top 5 Wednesday

This is a weekly meme hosted by Sam @ Thoughts on Tomes. If you want to know more, check out the Goodreads group.

I know it’s not Wednesday. But I’ve been busy. So here are the 5longest books on my physical TBR at the moment.

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The Crow Girl by Erik Axl Sund

This is a thriller I’m more than a little intimidated by. It’s huge at 784 pages, and definitely outside my comfort zone. I’m very intrigued by it, but I keep putting it off for these reasons.

Tower of Dawn by Sarah J. Maas

This is one I’ve already started reading it. I’m about halfway through it and I’m really not enjoying it because I just bloody hate Chaol. Anyway, this has 672 pages.

 The Black Prism by Brent Weeks

Another one I’ve already started and am not enjoying that much. I didn’t read much of it, to be fair, but again I just don’t really like the main character and that just makes me not want to pick up the book.

American Gods by Neil Gaiman

I am super excited about this book, though it is a behemoth at 635 pages. But I can’t wait to dive into it.

Elantris by Brandon Sanderson

Of course there was going to be a Brandon Sanderson book on here. All his books are huge and this is no exception at 615 pages. This is another one that I’m really excited about.

ABC Challenge – C

I saw this over at Thrice Read.

Previous posts: A B

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Remarkable book

This one has to go to ACOMAF. I have read this book 3 times. I love it. It’s by far my favourite Sarah J. Maas book. It’s beautiful and I love it. I have a review on it, though beware, it is not spoiler free!

Book on my TBR

For this I’ve selected City of Ghosts by Victoria Schwab. This is actually a book on my physical TBR, so I’m hoping to get to it soon.

My TBR Shelf

I’ve never had a designated TBR shelf before. I usually kept read and unread books together. But I recently moved to a new flat and I have this little shelf right next to my bed, so I decided to put my unread books on it. These aren’t all of my unread owned books, because they wouldn’t all fit, so I kept my unread non-fiction books separately.

A great photographer, I am not, but this is what the shelf looks like at the moment.

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The books on here aren’t actually sorted in any particular way except that the hardbacks are at one end and I kind of grouped the white books, but other than that I just shoved them on in whatever order. The little shelf at the top holds the books that I’ve already started but have yet to finish.

In case you are for whatever reason curious as to what books are on my TBR shelf, they are as follows:

Top shelf (started but not yet finished)

Tower of Dawn by Sarah J. Maas – I’ve legit been reading this for a year now. Since it came out last year. I’m just really not enjoying it, mainly because I cannot stand Chaol. I just want to get through it so I can get to Kingdom of Ash. I’m almost halfway through it (I know, I hate Chaol that much).

The Black Prism by Brent Weeks – This is another one that I just couldn’t really get into. I was actually expecting to enjoy this book and series as I’ve heard great things about it from people I trust. And I am intrigued by the plot and the world, but again, I dislike the main character and it just puts me off reading it. Every time I pick it up, I read a few pages and I put it back down. I’m 135 pages into this one.

Looking for Alaska by John Green – I started reading this at the start of September, but then I just really haven’t been in a contemp kind of mood, so I haven’t been picking it up much.

The Four Loves by C. S. Lewis – This is the non-fiction that I’m currently reading and as usual with Lewis’ books, I’m really enjoying it. Though I have to say at least so far, this one is my least favourite of his books that I have read.

What If? Serious Scientific Answersto Absurd Hypothetical Questions by Randall Munroe – This is another non-fiction that I’m reading, though not as actively as The Four Loves. Because of the nature of this book, this is what I pick up when I have only 5 minutes and want a quick pick me up as each chapter is very entertaining and usually quite short.

These Rebel Waves by Sara Raasch – You can’t actually see the spine of this one, but it’s the one with green pages. This is my meh book of the moment. Am I the only one who has a book that’s just kind of mediocre that you read when you’re too tired for anything that requires more than a quarter of a brain and you don’t want to read a book you love because you won’t be able to focus, but you want to read? Or when you just finished an awesome book and you know you won’t be able to focus on a new one, but you also want to keep reading? No? Just me? Anyway, this is my second Sara Raasch book and I didn’t really like the first one either.

The Bat by Jo Nesbo – Final book on the little shelf. I’ve been reading this book even longer than ToD. I’m debating just admitting that I’m never going to finish it. But… it was recommended to me by someone special and I just really wanted to like it.

Bottom shelf

I haven’t actually read any of these, so I don’t have much to say about each one. I’ll just list them, from left to right:

Hardbacks

Catwoman: Soulstealer by Sarah J. Maas | Heart of Thorns by Bree Barton | Turtles All the Way Down by John Green | The Colour of Magic by Terry Pratchett | State of Sorrow by Melinda Salisbury | Vengeful by V. E. Schwab

Paperbacks

The Crow Girl by Erik Axl Sund | Women Who Run With the Wolves by Clarissa Pincola Estes | Elantris by Brandon Sanderson |A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms by G. R. R. Martin | Origin by Dan Brown | Down River by John Hart

Wild Embers by Nikita Gill | The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood | City of Ghosts by Victoria Schwab | The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett | Batman: Nightwalker by Marie Lu | Mark of the Thief by Jennifer A. Nielsen | A Court of Frost and Starlight by Sarah J. Maas | Waking Gods by Sylvain Neuvel | American Gods by Neil Gaiman