What I Read Wednesday: Edition 0004 – Getting Peculiar with Victoria & Lost Tales.

As mentioned in my previous WIRW post, I started off 2017 by finishing up the Hana Kimi manga. After I finished I thought to myself, “Self, do you want to read more manga, or not?”, and I decided not. Then I asked myself, “Self, what do you want to read then?”, and I pondered that question mightily. There are so many genres to choose from, and not only that, I literally have SO. MANY. BOOKS!

Just looking at them fills me with a strange sense of bookish pride, and well as an overwhelming sense of “OMGWHEREDOIEVENSTART*screamfaceemoji*?!”

Eventually, I settled on Hollow City: The Second Novel of Miss Peregrine’s Peculiar Children.

If you’ve not read, then AVERT THINE EYES ofc bcz spoilers bbs, but the book picks up immediately after the first, where Jacob, Emma, and the rest of the Peculiar Children are on the run from the wights who destroyed their home & time loop; the children are also on a mission to find another ymbryne to help their headmistress Miss Peregrine, who was injured and stuck in her bird form. From there ensues meeting more Peculiars, traveling with Gypsies, kidnappings, a carnival, an ice fortress, some time travel, and a betrayal unimagined. So basically, it was pretty good, and I’m ready to read the third (and final?) book…which I don’t have…yet. XD

After that I decided it was time to change it up again, and I started to FINALLY delve into the History of Middle Earth, and started The Book of Lost Tales 1 by J.R.R. Tolkien.

Funnily enough, I’m only on page 25, and getting through the first story “The Cottage of Lost Play”; not because it’s long, but actually because there’s the story itself, then ALL of the commentary. Since this was edited by Tolkien’s son after his death, the commentary shows the progress of how the story was written, along with different versions of the story itself written in various poems. So, it’s the actual history of Middle-Earth backstory, but also the history of how Tolkien created that world.

I’m a huge fan of PBS Masterpiece, and one of the shows I’m currently watching is Victoria, which is about Queen Victoria, during her teenage years when she assumed the throne after the death of her uncle, William IV. And guess what?? There’s a book about it!!

Victoria is written by Daisy Goodwin, who is also the screenwriter and creator of the show!! I have a feeling then, that the book will be very similar to the show, and I am quite all right with that, as I love the show already! 😀

So that’s all that I’m reading at the moment. As mentioned in previous WIRW posts, feel free to friend me over at Goodreads, where you can see all kinds of bookish activity! Please share any recommendations, or books you are currently reading, in the comments! ❤

What I Read Wednesday: Edition 0003 – 2016 in Review.

Hello everyone! Hope you’re doing well. Long time no see, right?! *facepalms* Long story short, had a bad reaction to my meds, which put me in a funk for a while, then it was Christmas holiday time, where I spent time with the fam & then got sick, then I had to rest & recoup, and I’m just now feeling like I’m getting back to normal. Disappointed I didn’t finish Blogmas, but it is what it is. *shrugs*

So, let’s talk about some fun things, like BOOKS!! Ah yes, books; my loves, my friends, my pathways to adventure! For 2016, my goal was to read 50 books, and just like with 2015, I FAILED AGAIN!! XD

To be honest, reading 43 books out of a 50 book goal isn’t that bad, BUT the majority of books (a good 26) are all manga, so I was a bit sneaky trying to hit the goal! XD Here’s everything I read in 2016!

I’ve read both mangas, Fruits Basket and Hana Kimi, many times. If you’ve ever been interested in manga and wanted to give a shōjo series a go, I’d recommend both of these. They are adorable and cute, but most importantly, they are both a completed series!

While 2016 took me back to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter with the release of Cursed Child, I think my favorite book that I read this year was actually Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. The premise of the book was interesting (young boy traces the path of his grandfather’s past, meets some peculiar children, fights monsters, time travels, and learns more than he ever thought he would), and the addition of vintage photographs throughout made the story come even more alive.

Feel free to check out my 2016 Year in Books over on Goodreads for more statistical info, and links to all the books pictured above! 🙂

So now that 2016 is over, it’s on to 2017, and my goal for this year is to read 70 books! “AMANDA!!” I hear you exclaim, “you’ve failed the last two years, why on Earth would you add another 20 books to your goal?” Well peeps, if you noticed, at the end of 2016 I started the Hana Kimi manga, and only read the first three books. So, of course, starting off 2017, I just had to finish the series, and I did! The rest of the series was literally 20 books, soooooo technically I still only have a 50 book goal for the rest of the year! XD < doges > Ahhh, much logic, such sense. < / doges > Eighteen days into the new year, this is my current 2017 reading status:

*fist pump of awesomeness* Let’s hope I keep this momentum going through the year! As mentioned in previous WIRW posts, feel free to friend me over at Goodreads, where you can see all kinds of bookish activity! Please share any recommendations, or books you are currently reading, in the comments! ❤

Blogmas Day 13: What I Read Wednesday – Edition 0002 – Maintaining the Status Quo!

Well, it’s “What I Read Wednesday” time again, and I STILL have SIX books on my currently reading list…and the majority are still the same books! *facedesks* If you’d like to see my previous post about those, you can click here.

I didn’t make much progress on those, BUT since I did finish The Amazing Book is Not on Fire: The World of Dan and Phil, I felt like starting something different, so I started to re-read one of my favorite mangas ever, Fruits Basket! This is also technically Dan’s fault, since he recently made an anime rec video, where he talked about the Fruits Basket anime (yes, I own it, and YES, it’s good too!), and I thought to myself, “Self, you need to re-read this manga!”, and so here we are!

If you’re not familiar with this manga series, let me learn you some things! XD

This is Tohru Honda, our heroine:

As the manga opens, we find out that Tohru is living on her own (IN A TENT!!), having lost her mother the previous year; (she would have been staying with her grandpa, but his house is being renovated). The land she has her tent on belongs to the Sohma family. Tohru meets Yuki and Shigure Sohma, who live nearby (and Yuki is Tohru’s schoolmate) and through a series of events, they invite Tohru to stay with them, until the renovations on her grandpa’s house are complete.

The shenanigans kick off with the arrival of Kyo Sohma, who has an intense rivalry with Yuki, and their fight leads to the revelation of their family secret to Tohru; that some members of the Sohma family are possessed by the spirits of the Chinese zodiac, and when physically weak or hugged by a member of the opposite sex, they change into their zodiac animal!!

Of course, they eventually change back into human form, but when they do, there’s a surprise…

I’ve read this series quite a few times, so I’d definitely recommend this. Overall, it’s a story about life; dealing with love and loss, friendships and family, being true to yourself by just being yourself, with a good balance of comedy and drama throughout.

This week, I’ve already read the first four volumes, and am almost done with volume five. Luckily, next week, I am on vacation *nances about*, so I’ll probably have this series finished by next Wednesday, and hopefully, maybe have one or two of the other longtime “currently reading” books completed. *fingers crossed*

As mentioned in my previous post, feel free to friend me over at Goodreads, where you can see all kinds of bookish activity! Please share any recommendations, books, or manga you are currently reading, in the comments! ^.^v

Goodreads Reading Challenge and Book Haul

It’s finally happened…I failed a Goodreads Reading Challenge! T.T

It was bound to happen, I guess! LOL I’ve done this challenge pretty much every year since 2011, so missing one out of five isn’t too bad…so I tell myself. >.>

I started off 2015 with what I always try to do, a yearly re-read of Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings Trilogy.

This re-read started on the heels of the release of the 3rd Hobbit movie, The Battle of the Five Armies. I wanted to get re-familiarized with the book canon, since movies will always add something extra, or leave something in the books out completely. Still not over Peeves being left out of the Harry Potter movies, tbh! This year, I hope to actually tackle The History of Middle-Earth books that are chilling on my bookcase.

After these, I moved on over to The Southern Vampire Mysteries, aka The Sookie Stackhouse series, aka the books behind True Blood.

I had already read the first half of the series a few years back. I’m one of those types, where I’m not crazy about reading or watching shows in progress. I like to wait until a series is complete, and just binge read or watch it. So, after getting caught up on the 6th or 7th book, I just held off on reading the rest, until the final book came out. Kind of weird I know, but that’s me! 😀

So, I had been catching up on True Blood, since the final season had finally aired, (which is much more darker than the books, and has many more different storylines), and I decided while watching season 6, that I was gonna re-read the books before finishing season 7. *facepalms* Basically, in my humble opinion, the first 7 books are ok to great, and then afterwards, they just kind of decline. By the time I was reading the final book, I wasn’t liking the series as much as I did when I first started reading it. It affected me enough that I still haven’t finished watching the final season of True Blood, even though it’s going in a totally different direction than the books did. *shrugs* I don’t know if the book series just dragged on too long, or if the author just fell out of love with her characters, but I wasn’t crazy with the last half of the series, and definitely not a fan of how the final book ended.

Needless to say, after this let down, I was in need of a pick me up, and boy did I find it, in The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer.

Basically, it’s fairy tales with a futuristic retelling. Cinderella is now Cinder, a half-human, half-cyborg, who has an evil step-mother, and the attention of the handsome Prince Kai, and unwanted attention of the evil Queen Levana. Scarlet (Little Red Riding Hood) is a girl searching for her missing grandmother, with the help of a street fighter named Wolf. Cress (Rapunzel) is a hacker who is imprisoned on a satellite by Queen Levana. All three of their paths meet in order to fight against the evil Queen Levana.

I really liked this a lot more than I though I would, and I would highly recommend it! There are two more books left the in the series that I’ve not yet read, but I will be rectifying that soon! 😀

The reason for the break in The Lunar Chronicles was Divergent!

Of course, it was because of the movies! So, after I watched Divergent, which I loved, I went out and bought all the books, and then read them. Divergent was great, Insurgent was awesome, and then Allegiant BROKE ME!! T.T I literally had to wait days before finally reading Four because Allegiant affected me THAT MUCH!

After this emotional roller coaster, I fell back into one of my favorite book series to finish out the year, The Black Dagger Brotherhood, by J.R. Ward.

This series is my exception to my little rule mentioned above. As soon as one of these books comes out, I read it. I was able to hold out on the last two recent releases, so I was able to have a nice little binge, after re-reading the earlier books for a “refresher”! Does anyone else do that? LOL

So, this series is a para-rom, featuring a group of vampires, who are basically the protectors of their race, and their fight against lessers, which are soulless humans, who are trying to kill off the vampire race at the bidding of the Omega. Sounds like your typical para-rom, but Ward goes into some deep character building, so they all stand out and are different from each other, and the storylines are just great! Lots of humor, fighting, sex, friendship, love and loss; it’s just a great series.

And that’s how I ended my reading year! I still have three books I’m in the process of reading; The Demon’s Brood: A History of the Plantagenet Dynasty by Desmond Seward, Kings & Queens of England, A Dark History: 1066 to Present Day by Brenda Ralph Lewis, and The Amazing Book Is Not On Fire by Dan Howell and Phil Lester.

Since it’s now 2016, that means one thing:

Awww yiss!! Starting the 2016 Reading Challenge. Since I didn’t complete it last year, I’m just going to keep the same goal of reading 50 books this year, and see how I do. If I read any manga this year, then I will totally complete this challenge! We shall see; it’s been a while since I’ve read Fruits Basket or Hana Kimi!! ❤

Because I already own so many books, naturally it made sense to go out and buy more! LOL So here’s my little book haul of what I actually picked up on Saturday at my local Barnes & Noble:

• Blood Kiss by J.R. Ward: A new series (I think?!) that is set in the world of the Black Dagger Brotherhood. Very excited to read! 😀
• Trigger Warning by Neil Gaiman: I love Neil’s work, and was very happy to pick up this selection of short stories.
• Serafina and the Black Cloak by Robert Beatty: I actually came across this online a while back, and what drew my attention is that it is set at Biltmore Estate, which is one of my favorite places ever, so very interested to read this one.
• Saint Odd by Dean Koontz: I grew up reading Dean Koontz books. I actually saw the Odd Thomas movie, found out it was a book series, and of course, went out to buy it. This is the final book of the series, so very interested to see what ends up happening with Odd. *crosses fingers for a happy ending*
• The Iron Warrior by Julie Kagawa: I read the first Iron Fey series, and this book is the last one in a continuation of that universe, Call of the Forgotten. The Iron Fey series revolves around Meghan Chase, half-human, half-fey, and her journey into claiming her place in the fey world; The Iron Fey: Call of the Forgotten centers around her half-brother Ethan Chase, and his part in the fey world.
• The Dark Heroine: Dinner with a Vampire by Abigail Gibbs: This was just a random browsing selection. I saw a review quote from Meg Cabot, read the description, and thought it sounded good. Later on, found out it originated on wattpad, and I’m just hoping it’s decent, as there has been other wattpad stories, that have been published that just shouldn’t have been. So fingers crossed this isn’t too disappointing.
• Color Your Own Van Gogh: A coloring book! Of Van Gogh! My favorite! YES! This was a nice surprise, since the Harry Potter Coloring Book was sold out, so this was a nice substitution. Now, the real question is, when am I going to actually color in it? Can I bring myself to do so? Should I just make copies and keep the book pristine? Oh, so many questions! LOL

Do any of you participate in the Goodreads Reading Challenge? If so, how many books are you challenging yourself to read? Or have you bought any new books lately? Share your favorites, whether they’re old or new! 🙂