Tag: Friday Favorites

Friday Favourites: Character Deaths (That’ll Never Leave Me)

Dini @ dinipandareads10 Comments

It’s time for another Friday Favourites 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: Character Deaths**. So, I’m not really sure how to interpret this one because well, do I really have favourite character deaths? I’m not sure. The first thing that comes to mind when I think about this prompt is the character deaths that have stuck with me/made the biggest impact; so not necessarily my favourite death but it’s up on there on the list that I’ll never forget!

**Obviously I urge you to read this post with caution because I don’t know if you’ve read these books or if you want to read them, but warning: MAJOR SPOILERS! (Duh)

All the Deaths in the Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling. All the deaths in this book, especially towards the end of the series, really gutted me while reading the book and even more so when I watched the movies. Gets me every single time and I wail like a baby.

Willem in A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara. Obviously this wasn’t the only death in the book that was devastating, this book was already gut wrenching from the start, but just as we were getting a glimpse into how much better Jude’s life could be, and was slowly becoming, THIS CRAZY DEATH had to happen and basically set off an intense period of depression and death. It WRECKED me. I’m pretty sure I had to take a break from reading because the heartbreak was so real, y’all. So real. I still can’t believe Yanagihara would do us like that.

Old Yeller in Old Yeller by Fred Gipson. Dog deaths in real life, books, movies, and TV shows are the absolute worst. I can still remember how hard I wept when I read this book in school and Old Yeller died after saving his family’s life. What a good doggo boy 😭

Augustus Waters in The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. One of those tragic and unexpected twists in the book when you think one thing is going to happen and then something completely different happens. Oh, this book. I still cry whenever I reread it. I don’t think I could handle the movie (no, I haven’t watched it yet)!

Isabelle Rosignoll in The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah. We were so close. SO CLOSE to a sort-of happy ending and even though, as you’re reading, you realize that this is probably not a possibility considering the physical and mental condition of the character towards the end of the book, you still can’t but feel (recklessly) hopeful that it can still happen. This was my favorite read last month and this death completely wrecked me. You can read my full review here.

Lennie Small in Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. Lennie’s death was a mercy killing, but his character was my favorite and it gutted me the first time I read this when I was in middle school and it was still able to slash at my emotions whenever I read it after I was out of school. Lennie was such a gentle giant who loved too much, and it really sucked that he had to die.

Werner Pfennig in All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. This was one of those shocking deaths in a book that I absolutely hated. As it was happening I felt like I was reading it in slow motion (if that even makes sense). It was horrifying and I felt so robbed of a happy ending with and for Werner. SO sad.

Bruno in The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne. I’m sorry to say that I didn’t particularly enjoy this book. But Bruno’s death at the end was B-R-U-T-A-L. I was reading this on the plane when I got to the end and it caused me to literally swear out loud and chant NO NO NO because for real, that ending threw me so hard. I was shook–especially considering this is a book for children?! Hell no.

Do you have any “favourite character deaths”? Or are there any character deaths that you’ll never get over!?

Friday Favorites: Books Set in High School

Dini @ dinipandareads12 Comments

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 favorites based on the list of prompts on Kibby’s page. Sounds fun, right? This week’s prompt is: favorite books set in high school. I don’t know whether to rigidly or loosely interpret this prompt because while I’ve read a lot of books about being a high school, I don’t think I’ve read that many where the story is set in high school? Am I overthinking? Probably. I choose to blame my high anxiety and stress levels from this week because y’all, it has been a freaking week and I’m so glad it’s over! 😭 Here are some of the ones I could think of:

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas. I feel like this is pretty self explanatory! THUG has received so much hype and all the praise, and it 100% lives up to it. This was one of my top reads last year. It’s a hard hitting and emotional story that I think everyone needs to read at least once in their life!

To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han. Who doesn’t love a good fluffy YA romance? I was skeptical AF when I picked this book up; sure, it sounded like a fun read but it also sounded like it’d be full of potentially bad corny/cheesy YA writing. I’m glad I didn’t listen to myself and actually picked it up because I was pleasantly surprised by it! Yes, it’s cheesy & super fluffy, but it’s the perfect feel good summer read, and I’m not sorry that I loved it!

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. Yo, this book. I think this is one of the only books I’ve ever reread (not because this is my favorite book of all time, I just don’t reread as much as I want to) but I think that it made me cry even harder the second time around, despite knowing exactly what happens!

One of Us Is Lying by Karen M. McManus. I didn’t put this book down until I finished it in the wee hours of the morning. This was a great YA thriller and I loved every second of the Breakfast Club/Gossip Girl/How To Get Away With Murder vibes! I’m not a newbie to thrillers but this one seriously had me wondering whodunit for a good 50-60% of the book, after which it really started to fall into place and while it was slightly outlandish, the truth was also totally fitting!

The Book of Essie by Meghan MacLean Weir. This was my first book of 2019 and even though it didn’t take the route I expected, I really enjoyed it. I can’t even fathom what it would be like to grow up in such a super conservative and religious household, let alone one that’s broadcast nationally. A lot of people said it reminded them of The Duggars, but I had no idea who they were, but that didn’t mean I enjoyed it any less/more. But apparently a lot of the family dynamics and even the “scandal” was reminiscent of this real life family.

What If It’s Us by Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera. Okay, I really don’t know if this one counts but I’m making it count because this was became a favorite of mine very recently. I honestly loved everything about it and I wrote a bit of a gushing review for it that you can read here.

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell. This was the third Rowell book I read and it just solidified her as a favorite for me. When I read this a few years ago, it felt like it was the first time I encountered a male protagonist/love interest with a non-Asian female protagonist. Is that sad? Maybe I’m just not well-read enough? 🤷🏻‍♀️ Either way, it was surprising but I enjoyed it! Both characters had deep-seated issues that were heartbreakingly relatable, but I loved how their relationship started and grew, and I was so there for their love story.

BONUS: The Perks of Being A Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, I’ll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson, and Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli. These are the books set in high school that are still sitting on my TBR but I’m predicting that I will love them when I finally get to them–which is going to be soon because they’re also on my reading list for pride month! Yay! Have you read any of these books?

What are your favorite books set in high school? Do any of my faves make your list? Feel free to leave me recommendations in the comments!

Friday Favorites: Urban Fantasy Books

Dini @ dinipandareads10 Comments

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 favorites based on the list of prompts on Kibby’s page. Sounds fun, right? This week’s prompt is: favorite urban fantasy books. Okay, I have to be honest and say that I had a bit of trouble with this week’s prompt because I’m not really sure what constitutes “urban fantasy”. I love a good fantasy read, but I’m not very discerning with the different sub-genres; I basically just read what I like! So when asked what my favorite urban fantasy is, I had to scratch my head a little to figure out which books I’ve read that qualify as such. Looking at my read shelves, it seems that I apparently don’t read a lot of this sub-genre, so I’m not sure if the five below count, but I think so!

Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman. This book is making another appearance because this was honestly the first book that I could think of when thinking of urban fantasy! Also, I won’t stop recommending this book because imho everyone needs to read it.

The Dark Artifices Series by Cassandra Clare. Don’t shoot me, but I haven’t read The Mortal Instruments series yet, and after watching the movie and cringing so hard, I wasn’t really pulled to pick it up. But when I saw the cover of Lady Midnight I wanted to try reading it and, while it started off lukewarm for me, I ended up really enjoying Lord of Shadows. I still haven’t read Queen of Air and Darkness though because I don’t want this series to end!

A Dark Shade of Magic (Shades of Magic #1) by V. E. Schwab. Does this count as an urban fantasy? Maybe. Maybe not. But I’m making it count. Time and again I’ve said it, and I’ll say it again, this is such a fantastic series set in three different Londons, that are completely different (and yet not) to modern day London. Please read it.

Daughter of Smoke & Bone Series by Laini Taylor. I’m also unsure whether this counts as urban fantasy, but big chunks of the series is set in modern city settings, but also, fantastical city settings. It’s beautiful. Who doesn’t love angels, demons, forbidden love and star-crossed lovers? As far as I know, this book doesn’t get a lot of hype (and tbh the other covers for the books in this series are hideous, no offense to anyone who loves them) but I remember thoroughly enjoying this series.

All Souls Trilogy by Deborah Harkness. I remember discovering this series in the library in 2012 and I was shocked to find that only the first book had come out. I was completely taken by the idea of vampires and witches in modern-day Oxford and New York, without it being overly creepy. I absolutely loved this series when I read it years ago, but I think I need to re-read it because it was before the time I actively recorded my thoughts and ratings down on Goodreads. I wonder if I’ll still enjoy it!

Are you a big urban fantasy reader? What are your favorite urban fantasies? Any recommendations are welcome! Let me know in the comments below and let’s chat books 🙂

Friday Favourites: Classics

Dini @ dinipandareads8 Comments

TGI-freaking-F, book lovers! Although I’ve also had a shorter week, as have many others, this work week felt particularly long and draining. Do you find that happens with you too, despite only working four days instead of five? I still can’t believe it’s already the last day of May though. Holy wow, time is flying! I quite like that May ends on a Friday though. I think the weekend is the perfect way to ease into a new month, don’t you think? And since it’s Friday, it’s time for another Friday Favourites is hosted by 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: favourite classics.

Since it’s been a long day and I’m halfway to falling asleep, I’m going to keep this short and sweet. I’ve narrowed my list down to five favorite classics. Some of these left me swooning with the romance, crying with the raw deal the characters suffered and experienced, and basically sucker punched me in all my emotions at the end.

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. I’ve mentioned this one countless times on my blog already, so it’s really no surprise that it’s at the top of my favorite classics list 🙂

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood. I wasn’t expecting to love this one when I picked it up but I remember being immediately hooked and unable to put it down. It was nothing at all like what I expected and my mind was blown.

Persuasion by Jane Austen. Another Austen that I’ve also mentioned countless times on here. This one got me through a particularly rough period of time and filled me with so much hope. I’m an Austen girl for life!

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. This was one of the required readings at school that I absolutely loved. Lennie broke my heart! I’m pretty sure that I “forgot to give back” and “lost” the classroom and library copies because I didn’t want to give them back. Oops 🙊 #badpanda

The Color Purple by Alice Walker. If I’m not mistaken, this was also a book that we read in our humanities class at school. Celie’s is a powerful, haunting, and heartbreaking story. The movie wrecked me just as much as the book did.

Have you read any of these classics? What are your favourite classics?

Friday Favourites: Diverse Books

Dini @ dinipandareads6 Comments

TGIF, book lovers! Who here is just as glad as I am that it’s the weekend? Having come back from an (almost) week-long break from work last week, it was a hella struggle to get back into the swing of things this week. Definitely going to have to knuckle down next week, but I’m looking forward to relaxing this weekend. My parents bought me two TBR carts/trolleys and a bookshelf from IKEA for my birthday, and I’m so excited to be setting it up this weekend. I’m definitely one of those people who love putting things together! Anyway, it’s time for another Friday Favourites, hosted by Something of the Book. This weekly meme is a chance to share all your book favourites based on the weekly prompts as listed on her page. Today’s prompt is: Diverse Books.

‘Diversity’ has become such a hot word over the last few years, but I’ve really paid it more attention ever since joining the book community last year. I now have more diverse books by diverse authors on my list than ever before. Although I do read a range of diverse books, I know that the majority of my reads are still about caucasian characters, written by caucasian authors. While there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that, I’d like to put more effort into consciously reading more diverse books, and not just adding them to my shelves where they remain untouched for years. Here’s a list of some of my favorites so far (although by no means is this all of them)!

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas. This is hands down one of the most powerful and important novels that I’ve read in the last year. It is so relevant to today’s social discourse and Angie Thomas does an incredible job of creating a story that hits hard. This book was worth all the hype that it got and more and is one of the books that I recommend everyone picks up, even if they’re not “into YA books” because it’s a stunning read in every way.

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. This book (and movie!) completely wrecked me. Set in Afghanistan, this is a story about an unlikely friendship between two young boys, one from a wealthy family and the other the son of their servant. In a way it’s a family saga about betrayal, love, and redemption that spans over years. I remember reading this and feeling a whole array of emotions: heartbreak, righteous anger, happiness and love. This was the book that made Hosseini one of my favorite auto-buy authors and I haven’t regretted it since!

The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros. It has been so long since I’ve read this book, but I remember it sweeping me off my feet when I read it in middle school. It’s told through the eyes of Esperanza Cordero, a young latina girl growing up in a poor neighbourhood, and we follow her coming-of-age as she tells us about her life, family, neighbours and friends. I remember so clearly that this was the book that made me want to start writing, and soon after I made my own short novel written as a set of vignettes in the way this book was written. I don’t know what happened to it, but I was so, so inspired! I will definitely have to read it again.

The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer. I think this was the first science fiction (YA or otherwise) I read where the lead characters were of Asian descent. Did I mention that this kickass series are retellings of famous fairytales (Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel and Snow White)? Starting off with cyborg Cinder, and Prince Khai of New Beijing. Meyer depicts an insane and amazing dystopian world with space, technology, and a slew of diverse characters.

The Sun is Also A Star by Nicola Yoon. This was a sweet contemporary YA romance that had the hopeless romantic in me swooning. I loved that Yoon drew inspiration from her own story as a woman hailing from Jamaica married to a Korean-American man. I loved learning about Natasha and Daniel as they spent the day in New York city, trying to buy time and find a way for Natasha and her family to not get deported. Their characters seemed like opposites but they had such great chemistry. I thought it was also really unique how Yoon pulled the story together through seemingly insignificant side characters. It’s not just a fun, fluffy read, there’s definitely more depth here!

The Astonishing Color of After by Emily X.R. Pan. This was a beautifully written, sad but touching story about grief, love, friendship and family. When Leigh, a Chinese-American girl, loses her mother to suicide, she’s convinced her mother has turned into a bird. In an attempt to understand what happened to her mother, she travels to Taiwan to meet her maternal grandparents for the first time. It’s a very emotionally heavy story as Leigh tries to process her grief. Taiwan is painted as a vibrant city teeming with all sorts of characters, and an endless array of rich and delicious foods. In between bouts of crying, I found myself constantly hungry and craving Chinese food while reading this one!

Wonder by R.J. Palacio. This middle grade fiction is a very touching and impactful story about August Pullman, Auggie, who was born with a facial deformity that has kept him from going to school, until now. We follow him as he tries to navigate in a new school and make friends, but with a face that scares other children, makes everyone do a double-take and at worse, gasp in horror when they see him, it’s not easy. Auggie is an amazing, inspiring and wonderful character, and his parents and sister are such good people. This book had me crying with frustration and happiness throughout!

The Kiss Quotient and The Bride Test by Helen Hoang. In both these novels, we not only get characters of Asian (Vietnamese) descent, but two of the main characters in both stories fall on the spectrum. The Kiss Quotient was one of my favorite reads last year, and it seems that The Bride Test will be following suit this year! I flat out love that the characters are Asian — you never read about Asians in romances. I love the diversity of the characters and getting to learn more about Vietnamese culture. These are fun, fast and sexy reads that I recommend to all (especially if you don’t mind when things getting a little steamy)!

Saga by Brian K. Vaughan. Undoubtedly my favorite graphic novel series of all time. The artwork is beautiful, the characters are diverse and have rich backstories, and the storyline itself is fast paced and full of endless action. I can’t recommend this graphic novel series enough. Basically, everyone just needs to read it ASAP!

Monstress by Marjorie M. Liu. This is a fairly dark graphic novel set within a dystopian 1900s matriarchal Asian society. Maika Halfwolf, an orphan of war, is magically linked to a powerful monster that makes her a target for both humans and otherworldly beings. It follows her story as she navigates this dangerous steam punk influenced world full of enemies. The artwork is insanely beautiful and the story, although slightly confusing at times, is fascinating.

What are some of your favourite diverse books? If you think I need to read any particular books, leave a comment below! I’m always looking to add more books to my TBR 😃

Friday Favourites: Books That Were Recommended to You

Dini @ dinipandareads4 Comments

TGI-freaking-F, book lovers! It has been a week and I’m so so glad that it’s finally Friday because I can now read through the night without worrying about how I’m going to function as a hooman at work all day. That said, I recently discovered another meme that sounded fun and that I want to participate in weekly. Friday Favourites is hosted by Something of the Book and it’s where you get to share a list of all your favourites based on the list of prompts on her page. Sounds fun, right? This week’s prompt is: books that were recommended to you and became favourites.

A sad fact of my life is that there aren’t many people in it that read avidly or actually, read at all. Most of the time I’m the one that’s recommending books to people and while that gives me great pleasure, I often wish I had more people that can recommend reads to me too. Thank goodness for the book blogging/bookstagram community though, amiright? Admittedly, ever since becoming part of this community I’ve added a lot more recommended reads to my list, but I haven’t gotten around to reading them yet. I’m trash. But here is a short list of the ones I’ve read and loved!

Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

When I first moved to Indonesia and did an internship at the UN, the book loving friends I made were from everywhere. They read books in English, French, German, and Spanish—it was intimidating and impressive! She was rereading The Shadow of the Wind in Spanish at the time, and demanded I pick it up ASAP when I said I had no clue who Zafon was. So I did, and the only regret I had was that I didn’t learn of him sooner! This book swept me away and took me on a beautiful gothic adventure involving a secret library, a mysterious author, murder, and romance. Zafon won me over big time!

Scar Tissue by Anthony Kiedis, Larry Sloman (Collaborator)

When I was at uni in Australia, one of my besties gushed about how amazing this book was and since I was a big fan of RHCP and Anthony Kiedis, I was more than willing to read it. I think this was the first non-fiction that I willingly picked up (and wasn’t required reading at school) and even more than 10 years on, I can still vividly remember certain details he shared about the music he wrote and life on the road as a rock star. I was definitely impressed!

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

One of my closest friends on the island recommended this to me after she finished reading it. I borrowed her copy and almost didn’t want to return it! To my delight, one of my besties in India had a rather beaten but well-loved copy and decided to mail it to me as a surprise because she knew how much I loved it after I finished. I have great friends 🙂 This was my introduction to Rainbow Rowell’s books and I haven’t looked back since.

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

My best friend recommended this to me while she was also reading it. She did mention how emotionally heavy and depressing it was, but she said it seemed like a book I would enjoy. Then I saw that heart-wrenching cover and I knew I had to pick it up. There are no words to describe what this book did to me. It was an insanely depressing read but these four friends, and Jude especially, took me on a journey through their friendship and lives that I will never forget. No question, this is one of my favorite books of all bookish time!

Normal People by Sally Rooney

Last year I read Conversations with Friends and disliked it so much that I didn’t think I’d ever pick up another book by Sally Rooney. When I finished CwF I went into a hardcore reading slump for several months—it wasn’t a fun time. However, this year a lot of book friends raved about how amazing it was and when a friend told me she really enjoyed it, despite feeling the same way about Rooney’s debut, I decided to give it a go. I’m so glad that I did because it became one of my favorite reads this year. I know both Marianne and Connell will stay with me for a long time!

What are some of your favourite books that were recommended to you? If you’d like to leave me book recommendations of your favourites, I’m always happy to add to more to my never ending TBR 😃