Sooo… You know how last week I started with a “Want-to-Read” list of 1,010 books? Well, this week, my list sits at 1,022 books? 😂It’s freaking sorcery I tell ya! I mean, the ‘Want-to-Read’ button is like a siren to me, I just can’t resist it, and the next thing I know I’m clicking away through lists wanting to read ALL THE BOOKS. Last week I started off with a review of 5 books and managed to remove 3. Now I’m stepping up my game and reviewing 10 books–let’s see how I do!
Down the TBR Hole is a weekly book meme created by the wonderful Lia @ Lost in a Storythat attempts to organize our ridiculously long Goodreads TBR list by choosing either to keep or eliminate the books we’ve saved on there. Here’s how it works:
Go to your goodreads to-read shelf.
Order on ascending date added.
Take the first 5 (or 10 (or even more!) if you’re feeling adventurous) books. Of course, if you do this weekly, you start where you left off the last time.
Read the synopses of the books
Decide: keep it or should it go
Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel. I’m 90% sure that I’ve read this book before in middle or high school? If my memory serves me right, the book had recipes in it and it was awesome? I think this would still be a story that I enjoy so I think I’d like to reread it.
Verdict: Keep
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. I just… I enjoyed the movie well enough but I’ve tried to read the book a few times but I just couldn’t get into it? I know it’s a classic that I’d like to maybe read eventually, but for now I think I’m going to have to say…
Verdict: Bye-Bye-Bye
Beloved by Toni Morrison. This is a classic that terrifies me a little bit but I’m more determined than ever to read it now!
Verdict: Keep
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. I’ve never read this book but its opening lines are a classic. I would read this for the opening lines alone, but I’ve always been very curious about it and I’m kind of sad we didn’t read this at school? Lol
Verdict: Keep
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy. I’ve been meaning to read this forever and I was even supposed to join a buddy read for this earlier this year, but I was in an epic reading slump so I bailed. But I really want to read this!
Verdict: Keep
A Midsummer Night’s Dream by Shakespeare. This has one of my favorite quotes that I even want to have tattooed on me somewhere, but I still haven’t read it. I MUST!
Verdict: Keep
The Pianist by Władysław Szpilman. I love historical fictions, I loved this movie, and I think I still want to read this. Adrien Brody made me bawl like a freaking baby in this movie.
Verdict: Keep
The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende. I’ve only read one Allende book and I loved it, but then I found out that it was completely different to what she normally writes! I think for now I’m going to kick this off my list because the blurb doesn’t pull me in anymore.
Verdict: Bye-bye-bye
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou. I mean… This is a classic, right? I feel like this isn’t something I’m going to read anytime soon, even though I’ve got the book on my shelf, but I’ll keep it on my list.
Alright, so this round was a lot harder than the first because most of these I’m interested in reading, but I don’t know when I’ll get to them. Still, it counts that I wanna read them, right? 😂 This week I removed 3/10 books.
Have you read any of these books? Do you find it easy to cull your TBR list?Leave me a comment and let’s chat!
It’s the first Monday of September and we’re back with another Goodreads Monday, a weekly meme started by @Lauren’s Page Turners. This meme invites you to pick a book from your TBR and explain why you want to read it. Easy enough, right? Feel free to join in if you want to! I’ll be using a random number generator to pick my books from my insanely long GR Want-to-read list.
This week’s book is The Museum of Modern Art by Heather Rose. I don’t remember adding this to my list on Christmas Day last year (lol) and I also hadn’t heard of the author before this. This book has a rating of 3.98 stars with 5k+ ratings and around 700+ reviews, which I think is surprising for a book with so many ratings?
She watched as the final hours of The Artist is Present passed by, sitter after sitter in a gaze with the woman across the table. Jane felt she had witnessed a thing of inexplicable beauty among humans who had been drawn to this art and had found the reflection of a great mystery. What are we? How should we live?
If this was a dream, then he wanted to know when it would end. Maybe it would end if he went to see Lydia. But it was the one thing he was not allowed to do.
Arky Levin is a film composer in New York separated from his wife, who has asked him to keep one devastating promise. One day he finds his way to The Atrium at MOMA and sees Marina Abramovic in The Artist is Present. The performance continues for seventy-five days and, as it unfolds, so does Arky. As he watches and meets other people drawn to the exhibit, he slowly starts to understand what might be missing in his life and what he must do.
This dazzlingly original novel asks beguiling questions about the nature of art, life and love and finds a way to answer them.
Why do I want to read it?
I remember watching the YouTube videos of Abramovic’s performance art, particularly the one where her ex ended up sat in front of her and they had to stare into each other’s eyes for minutes, and I remember breaking out into tears from watching the various emotions that ran over their faces as they stared at each other. Oh, just thinking about is making my eyes misty and giving me goosebumps! It was so powerful, and I absolutely loved watching it. I guess that’s one of the reasons I got interested in this book? I’m quite picky when it comes to books about art because most of the time I’m afraid that the quirkiness of the writing/story will go right over my head 😂But after reading the synopsis again I’m keen to try this one because it sounds really good!
Have you read The Museum of Modern Love? Do you want to? Leave me a comment and let’s chat!
We’re back with another Sundays in Bed With… meme! This meme dares to ask you what book has been in your bed this morning and is hosted by Midnight Book Girl. Come share what book you’ve been you’ve spent time curled up reading in bed with, or which book you wish you had time to read today!
It’s the last Sunday of September! I’m gonna say it again because my brain is still like WHAT, but I can’t believe we’re already walking into the tenth month of the year. 2019 is flying! I’ve been out and about today and have been thinking about what book I want to move forward with now. I (finally) finished Priory on Thursday and I was determined to read some romance this weekend, and thanks to staying up reading ’til the early hours of Saturday, I finished not one but TWO books! It just felt so good to read something that I knew would end soon? Haha
I also started House of Salt and Sorrows because mum has been staying with me but now that she’s gone until tomorrow, I don’t know if I want to keep reading it because I’M CHICKEN AF 😂 I’m sure y’all have heard by now how much I can’t handle the ghosty stuff, right? I’m really hesitating, which means I don’t know what I want to read now? I think I might pick up another ARC since I have two that need reading before the end of October, and I don’t want to add anymore to my backlist ARC list, so the following two books might be my main contenders:
Ailsa Rae is learning how to live. She’s only a few months past the heart transplant that—just in time—saved her life. Now, finally, she can be a normal twenty-eight-year-old. She can climb a mountain. Dance. Wait in line all day for tickets to Wimbledon.
But first, she has to put one foot in front of the other. So far, things are as bloody complicated as ever. Her relationship with her mother is at a breaking point and she wants to find her father. Then there’s Lennox, whom Ailsa loved and lost. Will she ever find love again? Her new heart is a bold heart. She just needs to learn to listen to it. From the hospital to her childhood home, on social media and IRL, Ailsa will embark on a journey about what it means to be, and feel, alive. How do we learn to be brave, to accept defeat, to dare to dream?
Former Little League champion Kimitake “Clyde” Koba finds strength in the belief that he is the reincarnation of Marilyn Monroe as he struggles to escape the ghost of his brother and his alcoholic father.
Born on Yom Kippur, teen prodigy Raphael Dweck has been told his whole life that he has a special purpose in God’s plan. The only problem is, he can’t shake off his doubts, his urges, or the trail of trouble and ruin that follow in his wake.
A decade later, Raphael and ‘Marilyn’ find each other wandering the plastic-bright streets of Hollywood and set out to make a documentary about the transmigration of souls. But when the roleplaying goes too far, they find themselves past the point of no return in their quest to prove who and what they are to their families, God, the world, and themselves.
Which do you think I should read next? What are you currently reading?
Much the same as last week, I pretty much did nothing this weekend. As I mentioned above, mum flew over from Jakarta and has been staying with me. It was her birthday on Wednesday and us kids got her an iPad Mini that she’s been wanting for ages so that she could download an app to watch her Korean dramas on 😂 Since she unwrapped it, the iPad has been GLUED to her hands and she’s been staying up pretty late despite having early mornings, and getting headaches from staring at the screen for too long. She’s so cute?
Today saw me moving a little bit more, i.e. I left my house! I met my cousin for brunch at one of my favorite spots! I decided to try a different meal today and unfortunately, that was a hella regrettable decision 😭 Sometimes it pays to not stray from what you already know is good! Also, for the first time in a very long time, I’m not exactly dreading that Monday is around the corner. It’s a good feeling and I’m hoping that the anxiety that has taken up residence inside me lately continues to loosen its grip. Little by little, day by day. Progress!
Reading & Blogging Recap
This weekend alone I managed to finish THREE books, so I’m pretty chuffed. To be fair, I was already 65% through one and it was an easy Middle Grade read too, while the other two were fast and easy contemporaries to satisfy my need for something fluffy after finishing Priory! I’m legit SO PROUD OF MYSELF for finishing this book before September ended. It was seriously a journey. I was 80% convinced that I might’ve DNF’d this book (okay, I don’t DNF but I would’ve put it on indefinite hold) when I started it, but I’m glad I kept on. I need to write my review before every thought I had about the book disappears from my head but I’m still not sure how to review it?! I’m hoping that my discussion with my buddy readers will help me figure it out! 🙃
I’m still working on catching up on my blog hopping and responding to comments! I’ve been doing okay with keeping up with the comments in the last week, but the day(s) after catching up always see me scrambling to catch up AGAIN! *So I’m Sorry if I only respond to your comments 3-4 days after you write them!* Other than that it’s been a pretty decent blogging week; I’ve been blogging fairly consistently lately and thanks to WordPress who’ve been sending me reminders whenever I post, I know that I’m now on a 41-day streak! 🙌🏽 It helps that I’ve also added one more weekly post to my schedule. This actually makes me feel so productive 😊 On that note, you can find a list of all the posts I made this week, in case you missed it:
Goodreads:Matchmaking for Beginners Genre: Contemporary Romance Reviewed: January 2019 Panda Rating:
Marnie MacGraw wants an ordinary life—a husband, kids, and a minivan in the suburbs. Now that she’s marrying the man of her dreams, she’s sure this is the life she’ll get. Then Marnie meets Blix Holliday, her fiancé’s irascible matchmaking great-aunt who’s dying, and everything changes—just as Blix told her it would. When her marriage ends after two miserable weeks, Marnie is understandably shocked. She’s even more astonished to find that she’s inherited Blix’s Brooklyn brownstone along with all of Blix’s unfinished “projects”: the heartbroken, oddball friends and neighbors running from happiness. Marnie doesn’t believe she’s anything special, but Blix somehow knew she was the perfect person to follow in her matchmaker footsteps. And Blix was also right about some things Marnie must learn the hard way: love is hard to recognize, and the ones who push love away often are the ones who need it most.
“You need a mantra to help you. You can borrow mine, if you want: ‘Whatever happens, love that.”
What a seriously charming book! The characters are lovingly quirky and the situations they find themselves in are emotional and heartfelt, but not without comedy injected here and there to lighten the mood up a little bit. It’s also endlessly quotable!
Marnie McGraw doesn’t want for much except a normal life with the white picket fence, doting husband and adorable children, and she knows that being engaged to Noah (a.k.a. the man of her dreams) brings her one step closer to achieving all that. But life doesn’t always go as planned and she experiences that first hand when her world falls apart after Noah leaves her on their honeymoon, she loses her teaching job in California and has to move back home to her parent’s house in Florida. As she deals with the aftermath of her disastrously short-lived marriage, Marnie is beyond shocked to receive a letter informing her that not only has Noah’s ‘crazy aunt’ Blix passed away, but she has left her a home in Brooklyn.
Eccentric, life-of-the-party, and carefree Blix is the black sheep of her family. When she meets Marnie at a family gathering, she feels an instant kinship and spiritual connection to her and believes that Marnie is meant to take up her mantle of matchmaker once she’s gone. She tells Marnie that no matter how things work out between her and Noah, she has a big, big life ahead of her.Although she’s still reeling from recent events, and is convinced all of it is a mistake, Marnie goes to Brooklyn to fulfill the wishes of a person she remembers fondly and who gave her comfort when she needed it, despite only having met Blix all of two times.
“You need to forget what society has told you about life and expectations, and don’t let anybody make you pretend. You are enough, just the way you are—do you hear me? You have many gifts. Many, many gifts.”
What follows is an emotional, heartfelt, and comedic rollercoaster of a journey, as Marnie tries to leave the past behind and deal with an unexpected present that doesn’t quite fit with the picture she’s always had of her future. It is in Brooklyn, where she meets all the characters from Blix’s life and explores the magic of her matchmaking gift–not without plenty of mishaps along the way, that Marnie discovers the power of love and healing, and she finally finds where she truly belongs.
“It’s in the broken places where the light gets in.”
As corny as all of this sounds, I finished this book feeling so happy and comforted, and sometimes, that’s all you really need from a book, isn’t it? I’m glad that I followed along with the Audiobook because although it took me nearly three times as long to finish it, it gave me the chance to really immerse myself in the story and build a strong attachment to the characters. Although I found Marnie’s character desperate and pretty annoying at the start, her character growth throughout the story was very satisfying, and I’m happy with how she learned to embrace herself in the end. I think Amy McFadden does a wonderful job narrating Marnie, and I don’t think I could have picked a better voice than Joyce Bean for Blix. There’s something so grandmotherly and comforting about Bean’s voice and although it was only for the first few chapters, every time Blix would ‘reappear’ in subsequent chapters, I would still hear the part as if she spoke it. 😂
If you’re looking for a fun, sassy romcom, I’d definitely recommend this!
Have you read Matchmaking for Beginners? Do you like romance? Let me know in the comments and let’s chat!
It’s time for another Top 5 Saturday, a weekly meme created by Mandy @ Devouring Books and this week’s topic is: books with maps. I’m a real sucker for a good map at the start of a story! If there’s a map at the front I’ll constantly flip to it as I’m reading to better situate myself; plus, I love making a trail to see where our characters have been and where they’re going next. The one thing I hate about reading SFF on my Kindle is that I can’t see the maps in as large of a scale as I want to. The zoom feature stresses me out 😂 Which is why I buy the physical book if I end up liking the story because the map is one of my favorite parts of reading SFF! I love when the maps include different details for different areas–I think the more detail in these maps the better because I just want to absorb ALL THE DETAILS. Here are five maps that I absolutely love:
Godsgrave – The Nevernight Chronicle I mean, I couldn’t NOT include this map. I want to blow it up and hang it on my wall somewhere. Lucky for me, I think my Darkdawn Illumicrate box does come with a map (it’s not huge, but it’s bigger than the book)! The details in this map are exquisite and I kept staring at it trying to soak in EVERYTHING!
Erilea – Throne of Glass Series I think this was one of the first fantasy series I read and even though I’m putting off reading the final book because I don’t want it to end, I love the vast world that Maas created.
The Four Corners of Civilization – The Kingkiller Chronicle I honestly wish that this map was more detailed. I love this story and I loved flipping back and forth to the map while reading the story, but I think it would’ve been so much better if it had more detail!
Grishaverse – The Shadow and Bone Trilogy I honestly love the details in this map. It’s not as overloaded as let’s say the Itreya map, but it’s still got awesome illustrations that depict the unique areas of the Grishaverse. I definitely flipped through to the front of the book several times while reading this series to trace the characters’ steps!
Ketterdam – Six of Crows Duology This is the type of map that makes me want to shove it right in my face so I can make out every single curving street and minute detail that was put into creating a map of a city! I loved the description of the city of Ketterdam and this map definitely helped me to picture it better 😍
Do you like maps in books?Any of these a favorite for you too? Let me know which maps are your favorites in the comments below!
Goodreads: The Stopover Publish date: 29 October 2019 Publisher: Amazon Publishing UK Genre: Contemporary Romance Panda Rating:
I was upgraded to first class on a flight from London to New York. The food, champagne, and service were impeccable—the blue-eyed man sitting next to me, even better. He was smart, suave, and sexy. We talked and flirted—and though the plane was unexpectedly grounded, we still felt sky high in each other’s company. We danced and laughed our way around Boston…and had a night of crazy passion that no woman could forget. That was twelve months ago, and I haven’t heard from him—until today. I started a new job and met the CEO. Imagine my surprise when I saw those naughty blue eyes gazing at me from behind his mahogany desk. But I’m not that carefree girl anymore. I have a boyfriend now, and responsibilities. Now he wants to see me in his office for a private meeting. How can I resist?
I’m torn with how to review this because I won’t lie: I read it straight through the night and suffered from lack of sleep at the office the next day because of it. It’s a very quick and easy read, but there’s also nothing here that I haven’t read before. This was also one of the most toxic relationships I’ve ever read! I found myself laughing at how ridiculous the ‘relationship’ was, and then I was tearing my hair out and trying not to scream in complete frustration with what was happening. But then again, I couldn’t seem to put the book down and found myself staying up until 5am to finish it… So, there’s that? I’m warning you now, this is a fair bit of a rant (but I’ve tried to reign it in as much as possible)!
It me. FULL OF CONFUSION.
My favorite part of the book had to be the friendship and banter between Emily, Aaron and Molly. I was so worried the latter would end up being bad people but I was glad to be proven wrong! Their friendship reminded me a lot of how I interact with my friends and it just felt completely natural. The interactions between these friends brought much needed comedy to the story to distract from all the silly drama between the two MCs. I initially also liked Emily’s character, mostly for her drive to pursue her passion without letting anything deter her. She knew what she wanted and she went for it without letting anything hold her back. It’s a pity that all but disappeared the minute Jameson came into her life. She mildly protested every now and again but it’s like her backbone shriveled up whenever he came around.
Like I mentioned, this was one of the most toxic relationships I’ve ever read. Emily and Jameson/Jim/Jay’s relationship yo-yo’d from getting into ridiculously blown out of proportion fights over (literally) nothing, to jumping straight into bed for wild sex. It took a really long time for them to even get to the point where they would try being civil and having normal conversations without blowing up; and even then it didn’t really last long most of the time. The basis of their relationship was physical and in my opinion, it never really progressed out of that phase by the end. I will say though that their physical chemistry was off-the-charts. If you don’t like explicit sexual scenes in books, this will not be for you! If I had to rate the heat out of 5, it’d be a solid 5 though lol
But literally me throughout this whole read
For someone who’s meant to be an “older man”, Jay was the most immature rich CEO character I’ve encountered. He was petulant, emotionally unavailable and often times acted like a really big man-child, and at his office no less. He would be cruel and cold one minute and in the next he’d be messaging Emily, demanding she go with him to dinner, as if he hadn’t just treated her like trash not too long back? I wanted to slap him so hard. What gave me hope the first time was that she would say no and I’d be like HELL YEAH EMILY! And then in the next scene she’d cave and they’d end up screwing like rabbits before the night’s out. GIRL, PLEASE! *roll my eyes so far back they get stuck* 🙄 At the same time though, towards the end of the book, I found myself curled over with laughter over some of Jay’s drama queen antics–especially during the camping scene. It was actually hilarious and 100% amusing? Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to redeem his character from start to finish. There were other inconsistencies with the events in the book that had me scratching my head for a while before shrugging and moving past it because I was more concerned with other issues in the book.
All in all, I finished this book laughing in bewilderment (at myself mostly) and I was genuinely curious whether this is what people felt when they finished reading the After series. I’m referring to the people who acknowledge that the relationship in that series was toxic AF and yet they STILL couldn’t put that book down. Is this how you felt?? Haha I’ll still never read that series, but after reading this book, I do think I get what you mean with your comments 😂
Thanks to NetGalley and Amazon Publishing UK for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review. This book is out 29 October 2019. Have you read The Stopover? Have you read the After series? I’m still shook by how I just couldn’t put this down.Come chat in the comments if you feel this! LOL
It’s time for another Friday Favorites hosted by Kibby @ Something of the Book! This weekly meme is where you get to share a list of all your favourites based on the list of prompts on Kibby’s page. Sounds fun, right? This week’s prompt is: favorite words! Okay, this is such an interesting prompt! Is it odd that this isn’t really something that I’ve really given that much thought about this? Maybe these aren’t my favourite words of all time but definitely some fo them! I had such fun with this prompt, and making some graphics for each word (although I realize that the text is probs a little small now. Oops)!
I mean, do we really need a definition for FLOOF!?
What are some of your favourite words? Do you love any of these?! Please come tell me in the comments below and let’s chat!
Yayaya, HAPPY FRIYAY, book lovers and friends 😍We’re back with another First Lines Friday! This is a weekly featurefor book lovers hosted by Wandering Words. What if instead of judging a book by its cover, its author or its prestige, we judged it by its opening lines?Here areTHE RULES:
Pick a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open to the first page
Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first
Finally… reveal the book!
First lines:
It turns out the Leteo procedure isn’t bullshit.
The first time I saw a poster on the subway promoting the institute that could make you forget things, I thought it was a marketing campaign for some new science fiction movie. And when I saw the headline “Here Today, Gone Tomorrow!” on the cover of a newspaper, I mistook it as something boring, like the cure for some new flu—I didn’t think they were talking about memories.
Do you recognize the book these first lines come from?
In the months after his father’s suicide, it’s been tough for sixteen-year-old Aaron Soto to find happiness but with the support of his girlfriend Genevieve, he’s slowly remembering what that might feel like. When Genevieve leaves for a couple of weeks, Aaron starts hanging out with a new guy, Thomas. Aaron’s friends notices, and they’re not exactly thrilled. But Aaron can’t deny the happiness Thomas brings or how Thomas makes him feel safe from himself.
Since Aaron can’t stay away from Thomas or turn off his newfound feelings for him, he considers turning to the Leteo Institute’s revolutionary memory-alteration procedure to straighten himself out, even if it means forgetting who he truly is…
Have you read More Happy Than Not or is it on your TBR? Leave me a comment and let’s chat 🙂
Goodreads:One Day in December Genre: Contemporary Romance Reviewed: December 2018 Panda Rating:
Two people. Ten chances. One unforgettable love story. Laurie is pretty sure love at first sight doesn’t exist anywhere but the movies. But then, through a misted-up bus window one snowy December day, she sees a man who she knows instantly is the one. Their eyes meet, there’s a moment of pure magic… and then her bus drives away. Certain they’re fated to find each other again, Laurie spends a year scanning every bus stop and cafe in London for him. But she doesn’t find him, not when it matters anyway. Instead they “reunite” at a Christmas party, when her best friend Sarah giddily introduces her new boyfriend to Laurie. It’s Jack, the man from the bus. It would be. What follows for Laurie, Sarah and Jack is ten years of friendship, heartbreak, missed opportunities, roads not taken, and destinies reconsidered. One Day in December is a joyous, heartwarming and immensely moving love story to escape into and a reminder that fate takes inexplicable turns along the route to happiness.
My heart is soaring and a silly grin is still plastered to my face as I lie in bed with this book. What a roller coaster of emotions this book gave me! I was worried at the start that it would be a love-triangle-type of story that would leave me feeling uncomfortable and annoyed, but as I kept reading and realized that it wasn’t, I loved it even more. It’s a story of romance, passion, triumphs, loss, grief, secrets, family and friendships.
If you’re not into romances then this book might not be for you. I, on the other hand, am a hopeless romantic and I loved every heartbreaking, breath stealing, beautiful page of it. It could have very easily been just a sappy, romantic, not-so-well-done novel, but I think that Josie Silver did a fabulous job of writing characters that worm their way into your heart. I think that all of the characters are relatable, they’re not these perfect beings, and you can connect to them on a certain level. I particularly connected with Laurie – her slight shyness, awkwardness in social situations and devotion to family and her closest friends. All of them had endearing qualities that grow on you and by the end of the book it almost feels as if you’re closing a chapter on old friends.
There were several things I enjoyed with the romance in this book. I might have mentioned it previously in another review, but I have this thing for serendipity, fate, destiny or whatever you want to call it. I like the thought of “that one moment” and in this story, I liked how Laurie and Jack had their one moment at the start and although they didn’t get together right then, the world brought them back together in some way. What I also appreciated was the fact that although Laurie felt the way she did about Jack, she didn’t close herself up to the possibility of other love. Is there only one person made for you in this lifetime? In so many romances, it’s boy meets girl, they both fall in love and live happily ever after, the end. Although at times it felt like the characters would endlessly spin around in this dance of falling in love with other characters and it not working out because of their true feelings for someone else, I thought it added more realness to the story.
“I said I know how painful it can be letting someone you think you love go, but that I don’t believe there’s only one person in the world for each of us. It’s too fanciful, too limiting. … I told him that there comes a point where you have to make the choice to be happy, because being sad for too long is exhausting.”
I also liked that despite the tricky “triangle-esque” situation with Sarah, Laurie and Jack, it didn’t get in the way of the friendship between the girls, but also didn’t get in the way of a real friendship blossoming between the latter. I think I would have been as devastated as Laurie was at finding Jack again, only to know that it could never be and it could have been ugly between friends (in the name of love and all of that) but I’m glad that Silver respected that friendship boundary and even strengthened it in the end.
Was it sappy? Sure. Was the ending predictably happy and not at all unexpected? Yeah. But this is definitely one of those feel good novels that you journey through and that give you a satisfying ending and makes you feel happy to read. It makes you want to take chances and to do things that scare you a little bit a lot. That’s life, right?
Have you read One Day in December? Are you a hopeless romantic? Lol Let me know in the comments and let’s chat!
It’s another tag, book friends! I have so many that I need to do and if you’ve tagged me in something and I haven’t done it yet, please don’t think it’s because I don’t want to! I tend to overthink my answers and combined with my awful memory, it ends up taking me forever to finish any tag. 🙈I saw this tag on the amazing Emer’s blog: @ A Little Haze Reads and I decided to give it a go because it looked like some good ‘get-to-know-you’ fun! I’m not sure where this tag originated, but if you do know, please let me know!
What book has been on your shelf the longest?
If we’re talking about my current bookshelves, I think it’s my Canterbury Word Cloud Classic Edition of Les Miserables by Victor Hugo. This edition is gorgeous and I love having it on my shelf but it is one helluva tome. It’s even more intimidating because it’s not only HUGE but the text is TINY 😅
What is your current read, your last read, and the book you’ll read next?
My current read, which I’m finally almost finished with, is The Priory of the Orange Tree! You can check out my last post, #WWWWednesday, to see the books I read last and what I hope to read next!
What book did everyone like, but you hated?
I actually don’t “hate” a lot of books, either in general or that other people loved. One book that is well loved, is known to have brought Latin American literature to the world and that won the 1982 Nobel Prize for Literature is One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I was so excited to read this book but I think this is where my hate/sometimes love relationship with magical realism began. I just could not grasp it and it drove me to tears in boredom 🙈It just wasn’t my jam!
What book do you keep telling yourself you’ll read, but you probably won’t?
Oof, this is hard to choose because who’s to say that I probably will never read it? But I probably will never read it 😂 If I had to pick it’d probably be something by Fyodor Dostoyevsky? I don’t know if I’ll ever be ready to read his books lol
What book are you saving for retirement?
What a question! I wonder if this is something that people have actually thought about. Does anyone have a book they’re saving for retirement?! If I had to choose it’d probably be a ton of classics! That’s not a cop out to providing a real answer, alright? 😂
Last page: read it first, or wait ’til the end?
OMG MONSTERS! I had a colleague admit to me the other day that she always reads the last chapter/page first because she said if she doesn’t like the book or never finishes it, it’s OK because she knows what happened. I MEAN… I can’t 🙈 Haha reading it first just takes the whole fun out of the reading experience. Wait ’til the end!
Acknowledgement: waste of paper and ink, or interesting aside?
I admit that I don’t always read the acknowledgements, but when a book has really gripped me and has me enthralled, I will always read it to know who supported the author through the writing process. It’s lovely to see who the author thanks (and how too)!
Which book character would you switch places with?
Off the top of my head right now, I’d love to switch places with Lucy from The Hating Game. She’s at such an amazing point of her career, plus she’s doing something amazing and I’m envious of. PLUS, she has Josh. Can has the Josh in my life, please? 😂
Do you have a book that reminds you of something specific in your life? (place, time, person?)
I have quite a few books that make me nostalgic for people and places. Harry Potter reminds me of when we were visiting America and Harry Potter came out for the first time. I remember looking through a store (I can’t remember which exactly) and the clerk recommending that mum get me Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone! It also reminds me of all the subsequent releases and how I’d be sure to get to the store as soon as mum would let me to buy the next book 😍 Funnily enough, although I wasn’t reading Jane Austen during the trip, her books (particularly Persuasion!) reminds me of when I visited Bath several years ago. I love that place 💞
Name a book that you acquired in an interesting way
Um… A few months ago I placed an order on Book Depository for a few books that were on sale. When my package arrived, I was super excited to open it and the first book that I pulled out of the box was…
It was the wrong order delivery, and even though they sent me the correct book, they still let me keep this gem. LOL It gave me a really good laugh! Haha
Have you ever given a book away for a special reason to a special person?
I’m gonna have to disappoint you with a boring answer here because I’ve never given a book away that I’ve loved to someone special. I would though, probably. On what would depend on the person lol
Which book has been with you most places?
I’d say anything that’s on my Kindle but for physical books it has to be the complete work of Jane Austen. It’s a chunk of a book but it’s precious to me! I took the cover off for this photo but it’s gorgeous, pink and flowery! It’s come with me from Australia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Philippines and now Indonesia 🙂
Any “required reading” you hated in secondary school that wasn’t so bad two years later?
OK, I can’t actually answer the second part of this question because I don’t recall reading anything in high school that I loved reading again two years later. The book I hated reading was The Lord of the Flies–no offense to anyone that loved that book but it was just not my jam. I do wonder whether I’d enjoy it if I read it again now… Maybe one day 🙃
Used or brand new?
I love both equally. I love used books for the old book smell and sometimes I find things (receipts or bookmarks or notes) in them that make me wonder about who had the book last, what they thought of it (maybe they hated it coz it they gave it away), and where they were from. But also, nothing beats the pristine look, feel and smell of a brand new book!
Have you ever read a Dan Brown book?
Oh yeah! I was obsessed with his books for a while back in 2010. I read all of his books and I loved Digital Fortress and Deception Point just as much as The Da Vinci Code! I haven’t read any of his more recent publications, but I do have one sitting on my shelf 😬
Have you ever seen a movie you liked more than the book?
I can’t think of a movie but the first TV show that comes to mind is The Magicians! I love that show but I found the book so boring; which really surprised me because of how exciting the show was (imo)!
Have you ever read a book that’s made you hungry, cookbooks included?
Oh yes! I love a book where the characters eat all these delicious foods. I think books that can make me hungry just from reading it get automatic star points from me. The first ones that come to mind are The Ingredients of Us, Pumpkinheads, The Cruel Prince, The Astonishing Color of After and even The Priory of the Orange Tree! 🤤And obviously, cookbooks. How can you read one and not get hungry?!
Who is the person whose book advice you’ll always take?
There’s not just one person but so many book friends I’ve met through bookstagram and blogging! Sorry if this is a totally boring answer, but it’s true! Lol one reviewer who comes to mind and whose book opinions/ratings I most often gel with is Larry! He’s such a sweet person and his reviews are fantastic!
Is there a book out of your comfort zone (e.g., outside your usual reading genre) that you ended up loving?
I wouldn’t necessarily say non-fiction is ‘out of my comfort zone’ but I do tend to struggle with them more often than not. So I was completely blown away with how quickly I read Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann, and I was shook by how much it shook my feels. I absolutely loved it and will always recommend it, especially if you love true crime!
I TAG WHOEVER IS READING THIS!YES, YOU! (Soz, I’m a lazy panda tonight)
dinipandareads 