Wherein we talk about how Amazon is changing the discourse we use to talk about ARCS and Review Copies, Goodreads changing their Giveaway Function, and YouTube changing the rules around partnership.
There is also an issue with my audio. Sorry! I’m trying to figure out why it is happening but I’m technologically illiterate.
So, maybe August wasn’t as great as July. It still wasn’t bad! I listened to 2 audiobooks, read 4 books and ticked off two more categories for my PopSugar Challenge. It also includes more re-reading than usual, but I’ve already admitted to that so. There you have it. Somehow I am still 2 books behind in my Goodreads reading challenge (I want to read 100, I’ve read 65), but I hope to pick those up soon!
Welcome to this week’s Betwixt the Books content – a live discussion of me and Michaela’s views towards DNFing books (online 4:30PM, 2/16/16). We have very different opinions on the topic, which stands for books that we Did Not Finish for one reason or another. If you’re watching this live, feel free to tweet at us with the hashtag #btbdiscuss. If you aren’t, that’s cool too! No conversation is too late to have, so hit us up on social media!
Links I mention in this video:
From the Notebook videos are taking a break this week because I had to get my wisdom teeth out. Therefore, I’ve made a super crazy post for you guys!
If you’ve read My Life is a Notebook for any length of time, then you know that I don’t read widely. I like YA. I’m fine reading mostly YA. I do read other things but only when I really want to.
But as you may also know, I recently made a bookish resolution to do the Pop Sugar 2016 Reading Challenge with Michaela and … ooh boy. There are 40 categories on this list, and to save myself I’ve overlapped a few. Sorry. Reading is hard for me at school.
Below is my VERY TENTATIVE reading TBR for the challenge. I‘ve also made a bookshelf on Goodreads for it. Asterisks (*) mean books that me and Michaela will both be reading! Don’t miss Michaela’s own TBR for this challenge!
I know, I know, it’s the second Wednesday in a row without a Worth It Wednesdays post. I haven’t run out of worthwhile reads.
Though I’ve been doing my best to keep up with Nostalgia Junkie, the return to school has basically wiped out everything else. For now, anyways.
I’m about to start up a couple of projects very near and dear to my heart, and hopefully you guys will be able to follow them here. One is my thesis. The reading list for this has a list on my Goodreads, and I’m really excited about it. If I get my stuff together, hopefully I’ll find a fun way to incorporate all the books I’m reading for that into this blog.
The second is my senior project for my Creative Writing major. This is my first novel attempt in years–damn you, college!–and it promises to be a wild ride. Again, if I can find a witty way to incorporate that here, I plan to.
Last but CERTAINLY NOT LEAST is a project hopefully coming to you soon from me and
my Bibliomancer gang. It has several facets. One is that me and Michaela from The Pied Piper Calls want to start doing some shorter videos to entertain y’all. Second is that me, Michaela, Taylor and maybe even Casey from The Drunk Librarian are thinking of doing one book a month while school is in session. Except sitting around the SAME TABLE and imbibing alcohol. Because we’re 21 and we can do that now.
All this amounts to some more blogging that will hopefully be going on! I know, I’ve promised that before. But this time I’ve got teachers and friends all looking at me to git’r’done so maybe–just maybe–I’ll actually do it. Fingers crossed!
If you remember back in January, I wanted to get through my have-but-need-to-read list on Goodreads by creating this feature called “Random Reads.” This just basically makes sure that I read at least one book that I’ve had sitting around for a while each week. For all I know all my reviews in a given week could be from this list, but hey. I go where the reading wind takes me.
I chose a book and everything, but never read it. So, I’m going to start all over again by using Random.org to pick a new number for me off the list.
AND THE WINNER IS…!
Dark Star by Bethany Frenette!
Check back next Monday for this review and my next Random Reads choice!
Here’s me, Gretchen, coming back up for air. Sorry guys, it’s been a while!
I’ll be honest, this break was actually half my choice. All of the sudden life went crazy and I didn’t know what to do about it. This whole year, really, has been a loop-de-loop of epic proportions, and it’s taken me forever to get it back under control. To be honest, it’s not back under control, but at least right now I’m not at college. That’s a little bit of a break, at least.
One thing that I know for sure, though, is that I miss blogging like nobody’s business. This has been a part of my life for so long, I don’t know how to go on without it–and all of you.
Another thing that’s crossed my mind is how absurdly long my have-but-need-to-read list is on Goodreads. If you don’t know what
I mean, that’s a list I have that keeps track of how many books I own that I haven’t yet read. Some are ARCs, some are books I’ve bought. I haven’t even updated the list in a while, and it’s still 100 books long. That’s really scary.
I wasn’t able to keep up with blogging because I overtaxed myself with ARCs and other timed stipulations. Well, no more. Good God, that list is a whole YEAR of reading, if this year’s Goodreads Challenge is anything to go by. A bunch of those are ARCs I requested and received and then never held up my end of the bargain. I hate that. So I’m going to fix it.
I’m going to try to keep up with Top Ten Tuesday and Waiting on Wednesday. I love those memes, and I don’t want to stop doing them. I want to keep vlogging, so Stacking the Shelves may continue to exist in some capacity, even though I plan on need requesting any more ARCs for the time being. Some Bibliomancers and I may be soon bringing you a Series of (Un)fortunate videos. I’m going to talk to Marina and see if she still loves me. To this, I’m going to add in a “Random Reads” post each week.
Random Reads will work like so: Every week, I’m going to plug some numbers into Random.org. These will represent the positions of the 100 or so books on that Goodreads list. Random.org will give me a number. That will be the book that I read that week. Sound good?
I hope so, because this is going to be the only way I defeat this list!
So what’s my first Random Read going to be?
INHUMAN by Kat Falls!
Check back next week for a week full of posts from yours truly! I hope. My fingers are crossed!
Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Breaking the Spine!
Title: Crown of Midnight (Throne of Glass #2)
Author: Sarah J. Maas
Release Date: August 27th, 2013
Summary from Goodreads: After a year of hard labor in the Salt Mines of Endovier, eighteen-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien has won the king’s contest to become the new royal assassin. Yet Celaena is far from loyal to the crown – a secret she hides from even her most intimate confidantes.
Keeping up the deadly charade—while pretending to do the king’s bidding—will test her in frightening new ways, especially when she’s given a task that could jeopardize everything she’s come to care for. And there are far more dangerous forces gathering on the horizon — forces that threaten to destroy her entire world, and will surely force Celaena to make a choice.
Where do the assassin’s loyalties lie, and who is she most willing to fight for?
See my FANTASTIC review of the first book in this series, Throne of Glass, for why I’m SO EXCITED!
Eve and Adam by Katherine Applegate and Michael Grant
In the beginning, there was an apple—
And then there was a car crash, a horrible injury, and a hospital. But before Evening Spiker’s head clears a strange boy named Solo is rushing her to her mother’s research facility. There, under the best care available, Eve is left alone to heal.
Just when Eve thinks she will die—not from her injuries, but from boredom—her mother gives her a special project: Create the perfect boy.
Using an amazingly detailed simulation, Eve starts building a boy from the ground up. Eve is creating Adam. And he will be just perfect… won’t he?
3 1/2 stars
Thank you to NetGalley and Feiwel and Friends for this eARC! You can get a copy for yourself on October 2nd, 2012!
To be perfectly honest, I wasn’t sure at all how Eve and Adam was going to turn out. I was only lukewarm about the concept, but requested it in a slew of requests from Macmillan publishing (which owns F&F). I then proceeded to read the entire book in two days.
Actually, the entire first half of the book didn’t sell me too strongly. The apple thing–which is, in fact, in the beginning–doesn’t seem to have a point except for being thrown in there as an obvious allusion (she also loses a rib for no reason except for this, I’m guessing). It seemed to detract from the fact that Evening is being HIT by a VEHICLE and having her LEG RIPPED OFF. (Graphic imagery not included.)
I was, entirely through the book, lukewarm about the characters of Evening and Solo. I honestly did not understand why the for the life of me Evening and Solo were splitting the narrating, besides the fact that this is written by a male-female team. Evening does most of the narrating because even the authors seem to subconsciously know that this is Evening’s story and Solo is just kind of there. Evening’s mother is just kind of there and stereotypically evil, but PROPS for the character of Evening’s best friend. Now SHE was fun.
You know what? For the first half of the book I was just entirely lukewarm about everything.
And then the second half happened.
The action? Kicked up SEVERAL notches. All of the sudden we went from not much happening to EVERYTHING HAPPENING. Upon rereading the Goodreads synopsis, I can’t help be realize how much of the story isn’t in it. But you wouldn’t know it until the second half of the book.
Alright, I still wasn’t in love with the characters, but FINALLY the multiple points of view had purpose. The romance was particularly awkward and I didn’t find it that believable or real, but the way it’s handled was really sweet. I honestly have to be that vague because otherwise I’d reveal a MAJOR plot point, so … don’t hurt me. Trying to be non-spoiler here. 😛
The plot also never hit a point of entire believability with me, especially the plot twist at the end. The character in the plot twist was far too one-dimensional for the entire book, and there were absolutely no hints that this was coming. All of the sudden there’s just this HAHAHA, GOTCHA moment that I still honestly don’t believe.
All and all, the three and half star rating is perfect for me and this book. I liked it a lot, but I certainly didn’t love it. Though the end did a great deal to redeem the first half, I was just never really engaged with the characters or the plot. The action was great, and so was the subplots, but the overarching concepts just didn’t fit for me.
Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Breaking the Spine
Title: The Unnaturalists
Author: Tiffany Trent
ETA: August 14, 2012
Summary from Goodreads: In an alternate London where magical creatures are preserved in a museum, two teens find themselves caught in a web of intrigue, deception, and danger.
Vespa Nyx wants nothing more than to spend the rest of her life cataloging Unnatural creatures in her father’s museum, but as she gets older, the requirement to become a lady and find a husband is looming large. Syrus Reed’s Tinker family has always served and revered the Unnaturals from afar, but when his family is captured to be refinery slaves, he finds that his fate may be bound up with Vespa’s—and with the Unnaturals.
As the danger grows, Vespa and Syrus find themselves in a tightening web of deception and intrigue. At stake may be the fate of New London—and the world.
Why I’m Waiting: When Tamora Pierce tells you to read a book because it’s amazing, you don’t exactly brush that aside. She mentioned this one, along with Seraphina and Cinder in one of her lectures, and I instantly added it to the to-read pile. This also looks SO AMAZINGLY COOL, I would have read it even if she didn’t think it was amazing. I mean, steampunk and a female heroine Tamora Pierce approves of? YES PLEASE!
My Life is a Notebook 