Sunday Funday: Week In Review

This is my first Sunday Funday, but I’ve been reading a few of them for a couple of weeks now.  I first discovered it over at Stefani’s blog, but it was originally created by Cristina 😀  Let’s get started!

Life:

Nothing unusual has been going on in “normal” life, lol.  Last Sunday I did make an Instagram account, though, so that was pretty unusual for me.  I’ve also been really into the Subway pastrami sandwiches.  SO GOOD.  And so filling.

I’ve also been really into hair dye!  Heheh, yes.  A little while ago (maybe a month ago?) I dyed my hair blue, which was the first unnatural color I’d dyed my hair.  I used a light blue first, and then I went over it a day after with a darker, more-vibrant blue.  Now it’s just green (go figure xD), but I still love the splash of color it brings.

Life in Books:

I had a pretty darn good week in books if I do say so myself!  I was aware of BookTubeathon, which ended on Sunday, but I was kind of being lazy and thought of joining in at the last minute, but ended up not.  For one thing, I literally just got out of the worst reading slump ever, and I didn’t want to do anything that might make that happen again.  Forcing myself to read as much as possible isn’t exactly going to make books land on my good side.  It would have ended up a big, stressful mess.  But—congrats to all of those who did participate!  Tell me what you read!

As for what I read this week, let me tell you:

I finished Sophie’s World by Jostein Gaarder, which is a huge weight off my shoulders.  If you didn’t know, I’ve been reading this book since last October (read from: 10/7/13 – 7/18/14), which is shameful, but hey, I was being forced to read a book I didn’t like.  What can you expect? XD

I then read Demonglass by Rachel Hawkins (read from: 7/17 – 7/19), which was freaking AMAZING.  Like, go read this book if you haven’t.  It was great.  I already ordered the next book from my library, but sadly, I have to wait for someone else to read it before me D:

I also just finished Inexcusable by Chris Lynch (read from: 7/19 – 7/21), which I, unfortunately did not enjoy.  People agree that it would be a good companion to Laurie Halse Anderson’s Speak, which I really liked (Kristen Stewart was great in that movie :O).

I’m not going to put up a full review of this book, mainly because I didn’t really take enough notes to put together a substantial review.  I will tell you literally the only thing I liked about Inexcusable: the thought style highly impersonated that of Holden Caulfield, my favorite sulker and main character of The Catcher in the Rye.  That was literally the first thing I thought of when I started reading this book.

Inexcusable offered me the very first chance to use my TBR wineglass!  I’m really trying to get through those books that I keep buying.  The next book I chose was Frostbite by Richelle Mead, and I’m quite eager to start this book because I’m loving Richelle Mead right now 😀

So that’ll be my next read.

Aside from that, I started rereading Twilight… I was very bored.  And that book can be somewhat addictive.  I don’t know what it is.  Maybe it’s because it’s so easy to read.  Simple plot, simple writing style, and it’s (for me) calming.  I DON’T KNOW.

Now… I’m going to reveal a secret… you may laugh.  I recently picked up this book at the library.  I was curious, okay?!  *shies away as I reveal the book*

The title of this book is so freaking long.  Rebels: City of Indra, The Story of Lex and Livia. 

But, yes, I’m attempting to read this.  And I’ve already found several Legend comparisons (yes, Marie Lu’s Legend), and I’m not really enjoying it.  I wish I hadn’t heard who the “authors” were, then maybe I could go into this with a clear mind.  Gahh.

I also am participating in my library’s Summer Reading Program, which started in early June, but unfortunately, I was going through slumpiness.  But I’ve read and reviewed five books already, so I get a prize!  Last year I got free books, so my fingers are crossed, though that’s not exactly helping Project Finish the Books You Hoard.

(My life in books last week was really long!)

And last but not least, I went to Barnes & Noble and picked up a bunch of, uh… chapter samplers and sneak peaks… *covers face with hands* I’m not even a sampler person.  So why did I pick up these free samplers?  Well, there were a few authors I recognized.  I got a Young Elites sneak peak, which is the first book in Marie Lu’s new series that I’m super excited about 😀  Also, Ally Condie has a new book coming out!!!  As in Matched Ally Condie!  Look:

I also managed to snag an “If I Stay” poster and a poster for “The Infinite Sea”, which is the second book in the 5th Wave series (which I still have to read… I still have to read “If I Stay”, too… *facepalm*

The chapter samplers/sneak peaks are pretty darn generous!  They’re pretty thick for samplers.

Life in Music:

I had a pretty awesome music week!  I got the chance to go to Hot Topic, one of the awesomest (I just made that a word) stores on the planet 😀  I got some band merch, and shirts were buy one, get one half-off, so I was a happy camper!  Here are the shirts I got:

I got a Sleeping With Sirens shirt and a Panic! At The Disco shirt, which I LOVE.  I can’t wait to wear them 😀

I also discovered a song with lyrics that I think are just amazing.  Just so beautiful and it’s a really touching song, I think.  It’s called Free Now by Sleeping With Sirens.  Here’s a lyric from the song:

“I wrote this song for my mother
I wrote this song for our father
So hopefully we can come together
And hopefully make things a little better.”

The message in this song is amazing, and I love it.

Another lyric-y thing that I discovered this week, though I think this also should be in my Life in Books section, is that I found these interesting lyrics:

“They’re gonna clean up your looks
With all the lies in the books
To make a citizen out of you
Because they sleep with a gun
And keep an eye on you, son
So they can watch all the things you do.” -My Chemical Romance, “Teenagers”

This song really reminds me of that Twilight Zone episode (one of the newish ones that aired years ago), where that family moved to the gated community because their teenage daughter was getting out of control, and they pretty much stripped her of her tattoos and her CDs and her hair dye and everything and I LOVED THAT EPISODE.  I also loved the episode with Jessica Simpson and the creepy Barbie dolls

But more importantly, these lyrics reminded me of… dystopian worlds.  Think about it… Now let it sink in…

Are you mind blown?  XD

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And that was my week in review!  It came out to be much longer than I’d anticipated, so if you made it this far, you get a cookie!  If you skimmed, you still get a cookie 😀  Withholding cookies is a horrible thing to do >.<

What was your week like?  Let me know in the comments, or link me to your Sunday Fundays, if you participated.  I’d love to know!

-littleonion

Gratitude and Dilemmas

Part 1: Gratitude

For the past few days on WordPress, I’ve noticed the book blogging community exploding with award love!  So many incredible bloggers have been nominated for awards, and I wanted to congratulate them 😀

I, too, have been nominated four times for the Very Inspiring Blogger Award recently!  Isn’t that crazy?!  I was first nominated by Lily @ wordsweheart and Stefani @ Caught Read Handed, but shortly after, I noticed two other bloggers nominated me for this very award!  Those bloggers are Miguel @ The Quirky Reader and Yvo @ It’s All About Books.  Thank you, thank you, thank you!  These bloggers are all amazing, so I recommend you check them out!

(Wow, I’m using a lot of exclamation marks, lol.)

Anyway, because I’ve already recently done the Very Inspiring Blogger Award, I’m not going to be nominating any new blogs (I think most of the people I follow have already been nominated, anyway!), but if you have any questions you’d like me to answer about blogging or books or music or something, leave them in the comments and I’ll make a different post for that!

Part 2: Dilemma

Don’t worry—this has nothing to do with blogging awards (I love blogging awards!).  It actually has something to do with books.

I’ve noticed throughout all of 2014, my reading pace has definitely slowed.  Of course, I have to take into account that I’ve been busy with school and such.  What I’m wondering about is, I’ve seemed to fall into a really strange type of reading slump.  I’ll start a book, then I won’t pick it up for days, then I’ll read a bunch of it, then I don’t pick up any books for even more days, and then I’ll finish the book.  Then, I’ll start another book, get a few pages in, and not pick it up.  It’s like… quicksand, the quicksand being the reading slump (oh, boy, another one of my analogies).  So you take a step and you feel really triumphant, and then you put your foot back into the quicksand.  And then somehow you manage to get one foot out of the quicksand (getting out is the part where you’re reading a bunch), but then you fall right back into the quicksand.

Wow.  That was bad XD But you get the idea, right?

Has something like this ever happened to you?  What did you do to get out of this weird cycle?  It’s kind of driving me insane O.o

I also wanted to touch on one other thing: Some of you may have noticed that my visits to you blogs have become less and less frequent.  Well.  That’s my fault.  I am just WAY too dependent on the WordPress reader, and for some reason, the reader stopped delivering posts to me from some of the blogs I follow!  At first I thought maybe some people were on blogging breaks or something, so I didn’t question it.

But then I would actually manually go into the blog and realize I’ve missed, like, two week’s worth of posts!  Gahh, I’m horrible DX

I am so, so sorry!  So I’ve been working on slowly catching up to the posts I’ve been missing out on.

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Anyway, that’s all for now!  Thanks so much to the wonderful bloggers who nominated me for the award.  I really appreciate it 😀

Also, what do you think of my reading problem?  Let me know!

-littleonion

 

The Book Blogger Test Tag

That title got a bit confusing there for a sec, lol.

Hey, guys!  I’m back with another tag, which I decided to do right away so I didn’t forget about it like, um, my last tag…

This tag is the Book Blogger Test, and I was tagged by the awesome Stefani @ Caught Read Handed.  Let’s get started!

1. What are your top three book pet hates?

• Lengthy descriptions of a character’s clothing.
• Instalove
• Weak female leads — It’s awesome that, more and more, we’re seeing leading female characters in YA books taking charge.  I can see a bunch of books on my shelves right now that contain awesome female protagonists.  I think it’s a really important thing to have in YA literature.

2. Describe your perfect reading spot.

If I had a window seat with maybe a built in shelf for books, that would be my dream.  You don’t know how much I’d stay there.  Oh, and the shelf should have a panel that you pull out in front of it to protect the books from the sun’s harmful rays.

But in reality, I can read pretty much everywhere.  I’ve read books in an environment with loud children, loud libraries, etc., and I’m usually alright to read 😀

3. Tell us three book confessions.

• I wasn’t careful with my copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, which is the first HP book I read, and I reread it so many times, totally cracking the spine.  Also, the same happened with my copy of Order of the Phoenix, which makes me really sad 😦

• The only Shakespeare play I’ve read and liked was Hamlet.
• I still haven’t finished reading The Shadowhunter’s Codex, which I started reading on… Christmas of 2013… yeah…

4. When was the last time you cried during a book?

Reading City of Heavenly Fire made me cry.  I suffered.  But I enjoyed it XD

5. How many books are on your bedside table?

It’s funny, because I usually don’t keep books on my bedside table (but I’m totally cool to keep everything on my bed—my laptop, my books, my review notes, a flashlight…), but I haven’t put away the two library books I got recently, which are Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater and Of Neptune by Anna Banks.  WHY DO HER BOOKS HAVE SUCH AMAZING COVERS, OMG.

6. What is your favorite snack to eat while you are reading?

I usually don’t eat while I read, mainly because it’s distracting and I’m afraid of crumbs getting on my books and stuff.  I’m afraid of other people touching my books.

7. Name three books you would recommend to anyone.

• The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins — I think this is an easy yet gripping read.  The author’s writing style is really simple, but her plot is complex.  It’s not too long, either, and I was desperate for the next book by the time I got to reading this!
• The Cabinet of Wonders by Marie Rutkoski — I can’t really tell you much about this book, because I read it about four or five years ago, but I loved it so much.  Just go check it out, because it is worth the read.
• To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee — I didn’t expect to like this book at all, but oh my god, this book is amazing.  I pretty much devoured it.

8. Show us a picture of your favorite shelf on your bookcase.

I actually have two favorite shelves:

Good grief, I hadn’t realized how blurry that picture was.  I fail at life.  XD Anyway, these are my favorite shelves.  The top shelf has books that I’ve recently discovered and loved, and about half of the second shelf also has books I’ve discovered recently (as in the last couple of years), but the other half of the bottom shelf has books that I enjoyed when I was a bit younger.

9. Write how much books mean to you in three words.

Yummy brain food 😀  Okay, that was bad, I know.  I spent about ten minutes trying to come up with something clever-sounding, and this is what popped up in my head.  What goes on up there?  I’m laughing so hard… But it’s true!  Books feed my overactive imagination, and I get to live so many lives through them and go on so many adventures that can’t physically harm me (I’m not sure if I’m the spontaneous adventure type of person… maybe!), haha.  I grow to love characters, collect book boyfriends in my basement—uh, I mean, I meet book boyfriends… I don’t collect them… that would be, um, crazy.

Tee hee 😀

But seriously, books mean so much to me.  Actually, my two-year “anniversary” of when I started going to the library on a regular basis is coming up (June 25th!), and I find it amazing that I still go to the library every week, after two years.  That’s a long time!

10. What is your biggest reading secret?

I don’t know if this is my biggest reading secret, but I’m always scared of reading really hyped series (unless I already like the author or have already started the series) because I’m worried that I won’t like the books as much as others.  Do any of you guys ever feel like this?

Awesome Humans I’m Tagging:

wordsweheart

Rachel @ A Perfection Called Books

Mariel @ All the Books!

Bella @ Ciao Bella!

I don’t know if y’all have already done this tag, but if you haven’t, go for it!  Everyone can do it!  If you do choose to participate, leave your link down below and I’ll be sure to check it out 😀  Or, leave your answers in the comments!

Thanks for reading,

-littleonion

The Liebster Blog Award!

I have been nominated for the Liebster Blog Award by Stefani @ Caught Read Handed and The Resurgent Bookworm!  Thanks, guys!!!  Y’all are awesome 😀 This is an award usually given to bloggers with under 300 followers as an opportunity for readers to learn more about them.

Here are the rules:

• List 11 facts about yourself.
• Answer the 11 questions asked by whoever nominated you.
• Ask 11 new questions to 9 bloggers with less than 300 followers. You cannot re-nominate the blog that nominated you.
• Go to their blog and tell them that they have been nominated!

11 Facts About Me:

1. My reading schedule varies drastically—sometimes I can read 200 pages in a day, sometimes I’ll read 20 pages in a day.  Usually it isn’t like that, though, and I read almost every day.
2. I’ve become obsessed with Cassandra Jean’s artwork for Cassandra Clare’s The Mortal Instruments.
3. I have a really, really basic phone.  With a numeric pad, and everything, LOL.
4. My at-home TBR pile is slowly decreasing.  I’ve been getting through books faster than usual (“faster than usual” right now means “my normal reading pace” from last year ).  My goal for this year is to hopefully read all of the books I own that haven’t been read.
5. I have this thing with notebooks where I’m constantly changing what I’m going to use it for.  So, if I decide to use a notebook for reviews, that only lasts for about two days before I start using it for writing, or for lists of my favorite music.  And whenever I make that change, I always have to tear out all the used pages.  Don’t ask.
6. I went through a phase when every day, I would change my handwriting.  *shakes head* I’m indecisive…
7. I’ve been using the same case for my iPod since the day after Christmas of 2011.
8. I always listen to music playlists at night to sleep.  There’s this one playlist on Songza which I’ve been obsessed with for years, called “The Smiths & More.”  I think the playlist is only available on their mobile app, though, because I can’t find it on the computer.  If you do use Songza, definitely check out this playlist.
9. I love shirts that show things that I like, like my Quarter Quell shirt or my Green Day shirt.  I’m always excited to wear them 😀
10. I’m impatiently waiting for the release of City of Heavenly Fire.  I’m scared about deaths, though.  Especially since I saw something on Pinterest… now I’m even MORE scared -.-
11. I’m curious about how YouTube videos are made and edited and uploaded and stuff.  That’s one of the things that runs through my mind every time I watch something on YouTube, haha.

Because I was nominated by two lovely bloggers, I’m going to answer both of their questions!

Stefani’s Questions:

1. Why did you start blogging? Did you read a book that pushed you into it like I did?

I started blogging because I wanted to share this Harry Potter fanfiction I’d written.  It probably wasn’t the best writing in the world (you should have seen my original notes—no paragraphs, no chapters, WORDS EVERYWHERE), but I wrote like crazy, and it was pretty long.  I then started writing my second (finished) fanfiction, and that took me five months.  I needed something else to blog about during that time, because I really didn’t want to abandon the blog.  So, I got the idea to start doing book reviews!

2. What’s your least favorite book-to-movie adaptation?  Most favorite?

My least favorite?  A Series of Unfortunate Events didn’t go very well.  My most favorites are the Harry Potter movies.  I remember always being so joyful when I noticed that ABC Family was doing the HP marathon 😀  My most recent favorite, however, is the Divergent movie.  That movie… it made me laugh, made me tear up, gave me chills.  It was amazing.

3. If you could live inside any book, what would it be?

I’m not choosing any dystopian books, because despite the fact that there is conflict in every book, dystopian conflict is not my type.  I’d probably have a breakdown living like that.  Aside from my obvious choice, HP, I would really like to live in the Bloodlines world!  OMG what if I got my own Adrian?  😀 😀 😀

4. What’s your go-to book to reread?

I actually haven’t reread a book in a long time, but honestly, my go-to book to reread would be something of Lauren Myracle’s.  Anything, really.  She’s one of my absolute favorite authors (I’ve said that a million times, haven’t I?).

5. What’s your most recently read favorite book?

The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken.  I just started Never Fade, and I’m already getting the case of the feels XD

6. If you could meet any author, dead or alive, who would it be?

Rick Riordan would definitely be fun to meet!  Of course, I’d probably get really nervous and contemplate backing out (that happened to me once on this ride at an amusement park—and it probably wasn’t even that scary).

7. Who is your favorite book boyfriend/girlfriend?

You already know about Adrian, so let’s go with Daemon Black from the Lux series by Jennifer L. Armentrout.  That boy ❤  Of course, I could make you a whole list of my book boyfriends 😀

8. Where is your favorite place to read?  Do you have a book nook/reading chair?  Do you read in bed?

I don’t really have a specific place to read.  I can read anywhere, I think, given that it isn’t too noisy.  I read on the couch in the living room, my bed, the chair at the table.  Anywhere that’s a comfortable reading environment.  I totally wish I had this, though:

Bee-yoo-ti-ful.

9. Have you ever bought a book based just on its cover?  Were you disappointed?

I usually don’t buy books just based on the cover, because normally when I go to the bookstore, I’m on a mission to find a certain book.  I do this at the library, though.  One of the books I’ve picked up based on its beautiful cover was Fallen by Lauren Kate.  Didn’t really enjoy it, probably because of the female protagonist’s Bella-like tendencies.

10. Do you have one book that you attribute for creating your love of reading?

Hmm… I’m not sure, really.  I don’t remember too much about my past way, way back with reading.  I remember that in my first and second grade classes, our teacher would bring out this “library” at a certain time of year, which was really just a plastic box with some books in it, like Black Beauty and books like that.  It was really exciting for us because she would make us “library cards,” and we got to take the books home in big Ziploc bags and she would give us rules like, “Don’t read at the dinner table” or “make sure you wash your hands before you read the books.”  It taught us how to respect books and etc.

I don’t know if this experience really created my love of reading, but I was always encouraged to read.

11. Because I’m a wanderer at heart: if you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go?

This probably sounds cliché, but I really would love to travel to England, and it’s because of Harry Potter.  That series opened so many new doors for me and gave me so many new ideas.

The Resurgent Bookworm’s Questions:

1. What made you start blogging?

My love of writing stories made me start blogging.  Although I’ve stopped uploading stories to my blog, I’m still always thinking of ideas and writing on my laptop 😀

2. One author whom you absolutely adore (to the extent where you’ll pick a fight with someone who criticizes that author)?

J.K. Rowling.  Haha, yeah, I know a few people who criticize her and her books, dismissing them as “stupid” when they haven’t even picked one up.  And I’m like:

I mean, it’s okay to not like them after you’ve read them.  But you can’t just say, “Oh, I don’t like that,” without actually trying it.

3. Is there any book which you picked up based on the blurb but then felt let down when you actually read it?

I was pretty disappointed with The Secret Sisterhood of Heartbreakers, but the sequel was pretty good.

4. How did it all start?  What is the one book that set you on the path to being a bookworm?

I’m really not sure what book it was that made me love reading.  I loved reading as a kid, and the love for reading kind of dimmed when I got a little older, but then it blossomed again.  And then it exploded and left behind me, a bookwormy fangirl who is running out of space for her books 😀

5. Your take on all genres—should people be open to all types or content with their favorites?

Here’s my opinion: Reading should be an enjoyable hobby.  It shouldn’t be a task.  To be able to enjoy it, you have to find what suits your taste, or what genres you like.  I don’t think it would hurt to be open to other genres, however.  I haven’t read many genres, as I tend to stick to middle grade or YA.  But one day, when I feel like it, I’ll read adult books and maybe even NA.  But really, I think people should read what they’re most comfortable with.

6. The top three books you would recommend to any bookworm willing to listen (like myself, for example)?

Here are three random books that I enjoyed:

• True Confessions of a Hollywood Starlet by Lola Douglas
• Thief Eyes by Janni Lee Simner
• The Originals by Cat Patrick

Go check these out!!!

7. Your most favorite and least favorite book-to-movie adaptations?

The Percy Jackson attempts were my least favorite.  I’m sorry.  But when I saw the brunette Annabeth, I was like, “Who dis?”  LOL.  My most favorite (along with Divergent) is The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.  Another brilliantly done movie.  Am I the only one who’s Team Gale?

You know what other movie was bad?  I just thought of it: Inkheart.  Okay, the books?  BRILLIANT.  Cornelia Funke is amazing, and I love her books.  Absolutely adore.  The movie?  Ehh….

At the author signing I went to a while back, even Cornelia Funke said she wanted to die when she saw the movie.  They changed SO MUCH!  Maybe because they weren’t planning on making a sequel…?  I don’t know.  All I know is, that movie was highly disappointing compared to the amazing books.

8. Movies or TV shows you would watch a hundred times?

I don’t watch too much TV, but I love Monk, House M.D., old reruns of General Hospital (I’m not too crazy about these new episodes. *GH spoilers*  AND I CAN’T BELIEVE AJ’S GONE!!!  FOR REALS THIS TIME! *end of spoilers*), Nashville, George Lopez, House of Anubis (wasn’t too crazy about the third season of that show, but I loved the first and second seasons).

9. Have you ever wanted to be a character from a book?

So many times.  You don’t know how many times I’ve wished I could wield magic or a weapon and be a warrior or something 😀  I used to collect sticks that were awesome wands and I even made my own paper wands during my HP obsession.

10. It’s raining cats and dogs outside and you have run out of books.  What would you do?

Well, if we’re talking about physical books, I’d pull out my Kindle and read one of the many freebies on there, lol.  Though, on Christmas, I accidentally bought World After by Susan Ee, so… I’d read that!

But if we’re talking about running out of every form of reading material, I’d probably listen to music or write or something.  Or catch up on my favorite shows 😀

11. What are your guilty pleasures in books/TV/movies/even food?

I don’t know if I have any “guilty pleasures” that have to do with what’s listed above.  I suppose for books, I wouldn’t mind rereading Twilight.  That’s the only book from that series I really enjoyed.  Eclipse wasn’t so bad, either, but New Moon and Breaking Dawn were disasters for me.

For TV, Star-Crossed is becoming a guilty pleasure, haha.  It’s so cheesy!  I just saw yesterday’s episode, and good GAWD, could Emery get any more cliché?  Ooh, remember High School Musical?  She reminded me of Gabriella from the second movie.

Can’t think of any guilty pleasure movies… but one of my guilty pleasure foods are Cheez-It crackers.  I love those things.  I could eat a whole box by myself.  Heh.

WOOOOW that was long!  And we’re still not finished!  I still have to nominate some peeps and ask them some questions:

My Nominees:

kelzbelzphotography

b00kreader

Brin’s Book Blog

Ramisa the Authoress

Wallflowers aren’t Wizards

Printed Addiction

Nominees’ Questions:

1. Do you have a favorite decade for music?  Do you enjoy today’s music?

2. What is the first electronic you received/bought?

3. What do you think is the best post you’ve written?

4. What do you do when you feel overwhelmed with too much stuff to do?

5. What are your favorite books/foods/music at the moment?

6. Did you ever have a bad habit that you overcame?  (Mine was biting my nails!)

7. If time machines were created, what year would you travel to?  Why?

8. What was the first social networking site you joined?

9. What is your biggest pet peeve?

10.  What book have you read that, upon finishing the book, you thought, “This had potential, but there were a lot of things I would change”?

11. What is your favorite Internet radio app?  (I’m in love with Spotify!)

Y’all are awesometastical if you read all of this!  This was one loooong post 😀  Once again, thank you to the bloggers who nominated me for this award!  And nominees, if you participate, have fun with the questions!

 

Updates Post!

Hello, bloggy and non-bloggy people!  How are you on this fine, fine Friday?  (I’m in a pretty good mood right now XD)

I thought I’d do this (hopefully quick) updates post (but you know I’m a rambler)!

So, I haven’t done a book haul in forever (back then, I used to call them “book batches.”  It’s been a while…), so I’ll do a quick library haul here, minus the photos (click the links if you want to see the books’ Goodreads pages):

Never Fade (The Darkest Minds, #2) by Alexandra Bracken — YESSSS!  Zee book eez miiiiine!  Well, not technically, since it belongs to the library… but you get the idea.

I was so excited to see Never Fade waiting for me at the library, because I absolutely adored The Darkest Minds.  That book ❤  You can find my rant-y review here.  Anyway, I’m on page 92, so no spoilers, please!

Leap Day by Wendy Mass — I love Wendy Mass.  Her books are so cute and just… *sigh*  The first book of hers that I read was Finally, which is the first book in the Willow Falls Series that’s about a girl who turns twelve and she made a list of everything her parents said she could get when she turned twelve… but as she gets them, things don’t exactly go as planned ;D (I think that’s the best summary I’ve ever written in my life, lol.)  I love middle grade, and this here book is no exception.

Anyway, I think Leap Day is more YA.  I read it early last year (I actually remember sitting outside and reading this particular book at this time of year, a year ago.  Crazy, huh?) and I’m pretty sure I finished it, but it was on the shelf, so I was like, “I’m just going to get it again!”  Plus, it had a Lauren Myracle review on it… can’t go wrong there, right?

Fruits Basket, Volume 3 by Natsuki Takaya — I finally memorized how to spell the author’s name.  That’s one awesome name, BTW, but I think it might be a pseudonym… Anywho!  I already finished and adored this manga, but I didn’t review it because I find mangas really hard to review, for some reason.  But it’s a great little book!  Tohru and Kyo and Yuki… *sigh* Kyo’s on the cover of this one ;D

Under the Never Sky (Under the Never Sky, #1) by Veronica Rossi — This is a surprise.  I know, I’m a tad late to the Under the Never Sky party, but it was just sitting on the shelf… usually there are never popular books in the YA section (there’s no chance you’d find Divergent just chillin’ on a shelf.  Nuh-uh) because they’re always with someone else!  I always have to order them.  I was extremely surprised to see this book at the library, but I snagged it when I had the chance!

House M.D., Season Six — I don’t know if y’all watch House, but I’m in love with this show.  It’s off the air now (unless they’re showing reruns), so I order from the library.  There were some pretty good episodes in this season, I have to admit, especially after some of the devastating events that occurred in the last season.

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I also wanted to show y’all this, which I made yesterday:

Ta da!!!

It’s my very own TBR cup, inspired by Falling Down the Rabbit Hole!  Heheh… their jar is more adorable and creative than mine, but hey, I couldn’t find a jar!  XD

Anyway, I have twenty-seven books in my at-home TBR pile.  Now, on little pieces of paper, it doesn’t look like a lot, but when you actually see all twenty-seven books, it looks like I’ve got a ton.  If I worked hard, I could probably get through this TBR pile this year, but… then there’s the library… and the rest is history.

But I’m excited to use it!  I told my friend that when I pulled out the papers, I’d act like Effie Trinket, HAHAHA!  But, seriously, this cup is definitely going to help me.  I’m so indecisive when it comes to what book to read next.  This will come in handy…

Also!  I was nominated for an award!  The two awesome bloggers who nominated me, Stefani from Caught Read Handed (that’s one of the coolest blog names ever!), and The Resurgent Bookworm (who has, like, the most beautiful banner on the top of her blog) 😀  I’m working on both of your questions and nominees!  It’s in my drafts folder right now, because I’ve been trying to catch up with this book that I’ve been reading for an unacceptably long time.  I feel like I’m playing the “how far can I stretch this book out?” game.  When I reveal the amount of time I’ve spent on this book in its review, you might think I’m out of my mind.

But, yeah!  I’m working on the award post.  Thanks for nominating me, guys!  It should be up in no time 🙂

I should go now, before this “quick” post gets any longer.  I hope you enjoyed!

-littleonion