June 2014 Library Haul!

I went to the library! The thing I love about the library is that it's free and I have a deadline, so I am forced to finish these books in a month. Whenever I buy books, it takes me forever to start reading them, so that's one reason why I don't often buy them. And of course, there will be a review on each and every one of these books whether I like them or not. Since these are from the library, they show where I live on the back, and you don't need to know where that is so I censored it with a black bar. So that's why that's there. 

Every Day by David Levithan:

This is actually the one I was excited for the most. It's about a boy who is in a different body every day, and one day he falls in love... which is sure to be interesting.  

The Shades of Milk and Honey by Mary Robinette Kowal :

In the words of Hank Green: "It's like Jane Austin, but with magic in it." So I was immediately intrigued when I saw him talk about this in a Vlog brothers video. 

Sarah's Key by Tatiana De Rosnay:

I'm not entirely sure what this book is about, I think it's about a journalist who learns about Sarah who is a 10 year old girl who was arrested,along with her family, in France in 1942. I could be wrong, but I saw it on Good Reads and it looks like a really good and unique story.

Scarlet Nights by Jude Deveraux:

This is one of the two books that I did not originally request in this haul. I found this on a bookshelf, read the description on the inside cover (above) and thought this story sounded cool.

Attachments by Rainbow Rowell:

The inside cover sounded hilarious! And this will also be the first Rainbow Rowell novel for me to read.

Another Life Altogether by Elaine Beale:

Notice anything similar about the fonts?

This is the other book I did not request, but found on a bookshelf. I had never read anything similar or anything about coping with mental disease. I have been wanting to read new types of books that I never had before and I figured this was a good book for that.

Thanks for reading this blog post, I actually already finished Every Day and will have a review on that up in the next few days. I hope to see you soon and have a good day! Bye!

The Book Blogger Newbie Tag!!!!

Hi everyone! I just would like to mention that this is my second blog post in a week! Somebody write that down because that is a record for me! So today's blog post is a bit different than usual, but I want to do a lot more of these in the future. Today I am doing a tag! This is my very first tag and I thought it would be very fitting for it to be a tag for newbies! This is actually called the Booktube Newbie Tag and it is from youtube, but I figured I could do it here too. Why not? I saw my friend Cassie from Cassiebooks (subscribe to her because she's awesome!) do this I thought "What a fun set of questions!". I also saw Bunny's Book Corner and Alex Hayton  do this tag and really liked their videos. This tag was created by Brenda C. So without further ado, here are the questions:

1. Why did you start this blog (originally channel, but we're changing it up a bit for our purpose)? I actually never thought of starting a blog until I had to for a class in school. We had to talk about certain chapters in a book. I started this blog with the intention eventually deleting the assignment posts and having this be a place for me to review and talk about about books.

2. What are some fun and unique things you can bring to Booktube (Again, I'm going to be talking about Blogger)? Nothing. I am boring and completely ordinary. Next question... JUST KIDDING! In all seriousness, I have no idea. I would like to eventually be an author, as that has been my dream job since I was six, and so I thought maybe I could show some of poems or short stories here. But I'm not too sure about that, especially because I hope to be anonymous here for the near future (and I don't want anyone to take credit for my creativity). But who knows, maybe I will show you guys some of my writing  here in the future.Or maybe I can write on my opinions and experiences here, maybe someone can relate to or enjoy what I have to say.

3.  What are you most excited for about this new channel (ahem... blog)? I am really excited to be able to interact with people that have similar interest to me. And to share my thoughts and words with others; the fact that people are talking time out of their days to read something that an ordinary person like me wrote is really exciting.

4. Why do you love reading? Finally, a question I didn't have to change! And what a good question it is, where do I possibly start? One thing I love is that as soon as I start reading, I am no longer an average, ordinary girl, but I am Katniss Everdean. Or Harry Potter. Or a girl falling in love with the funny and oh-so charming Augustus Waters (but let's face it, even that average, ordinary girl was falling in love with Augustus Waters. I mean, who could resist his charm?). I am on an adventure, and learning new life lessons and am just in another world (not that I live in a terrible world or anything, but it is still nice to escape). And I also love how I get to see different scenarios from other, and sometimes completely different, perspectives. To me it is incredible how powerful a story can be, and there are just so many other things I love about reading that I can't even explain. Somebody told me that people who read live a thousand lives, while people who don't only live one (Which is why at the top of the my blog it says "Living a Thousand Lives..."). That is so true.

5. What book or book series got you into reading? Even before I could read, my parents would read to me so I always loved books. There were two book series that I especially loved. One of them was Amelia Bedelia, and I don't actually remember the name of the second one, but it was about an old man who had a orange tabby cat and his spunkier female neighbor who had a bulldog. And they went on what I thought were crazy adventures, but really they were just riding trains, and giving each other Christmas gifts, and other wild things like that. If anyone knows what I'm talking about and remembers what that series is called please leave it in the comments below, because I loved them and I bet I still would. Update! So after a bit of research I found out that my favorite children's boo series that I was just talking about is called Mr. Putter and Tabby

6. What questions would you ask your favorite booktuber? One of my favorite booktubers is polandbananasbooks and I would ask her to answer the last two questions I just answered.

7. What challenges do you think starting a booktube channel (blog) will be the hardest to overcome? If you have been following my blog posts so far, then you would know that I have a big issue with posting regularly, so I would say uploading constantly might be difficult to overcome.

So that's it! I hope you enjoyed reading this, make sure to check out the booktubers I mentioned above because they are all so great! What booktubers or book bloggers do you like to watch or read?

Breathing Underwater by Alex Flinn

I got this book over a year ago and I have no idea why I waited an entire year to read this book...

(Excuse any white stuff on the book, that is just paint) Before any spoilers come (because they're coming), let me give you a little overview. First off: the cover. In one word, interesting? *shrugs because she doesn't know if that's a good or bad thing* It consists of a face (which I don't usually like on book covers, but this is okay because it's a drawing and not a photo of a face) with some scribbles surrounding it. It is written by Alex Flinn, who also wrote Beastly. Essentially, this book is about a sixteen year old boy who gets a restraining order from his ex-girlfriend for domestic abuse. This is one of the best books I've read in a while. I enjoyed it so much that it was actually painful to close the book, both at the end and when I had to do something else. It was very clever and well-written and I just couldn't believe some of the things Nick (the main character) would do. I would recommend this book to everybody. I was reading a lot of reviews on Good Reads and one thing I kept reading was that teachers would keep it in their classrooms or make their students read it because it is so well-written and developed. So if you're a teacher, this book might be something you would want to look into. The ex-girlfriend's name is Caitlyn and there is a sequel called Diva which is about how she is coping with the situation at a performing arts school. I look forward to reading it.

The review is essentially over, and now I just want to talk about what happens (which means spoilers), so if you haven't read it then you are not invited past the end of this sentence.

To all those people who have not read the book, shame on you. I just want to let you know what you are getting yourself in to: spoilers, spoilers, and more spoilers. In the court, when the judge ordered Nick to keep a journal of his experience, I thought that was such a clever way of letting the reader know what had happened between him and Caitlin. It was much more creative than constant flashbacks (I know that when he wrote in journal, his entrees were essentially flashbacks, but he was having them with and on purpose. It wasn't just a random recollection of memories the character decided to remember with no clear rhyme or reason). I looked forward to the journal entrees more than what was happening in the present.

I think the author did this on purpose, but my perception of Nick greatly changed while I was reading this book.At the beginning I was thinking along the lines of his ex-girlfriend being a little over dramatic. But as I continued reading the journal entrees Nick was writing, I started thinking, "What a jerk this guy is! I don't know how his girlfriend stayed with him for so long!" Which I really didn't. I just couldn't understand how Caitlyn didn't just stand her ground and say "Enough!". But I'm sure she had a reason, whether she was afraid or didn't know how to end it, or something else entirely. Towards the end, I could tell that Nick really understood what he did to this girl and he takes responsibility for his actions, which I like. I also liked that he decided to retake the anger management class.

So that's it for today. Did you like the little one way conversation I added at the end or should I omit it completely in future reviews? I hope you enjoyed this review and choose to join me again in the future!

My Summer Reading Checklist: 2014

I know it has been forever since I last posted on either of my blogs, but I have been just so busy.But I have had some extra time lately and now with summer coming up I will definitely be reading and blogging more often.  I just finished Breathing Underwater by Alex Flinn and An Abundance of Katherines by John Green  so I will be doing a review on those soon (by the way, they were both fantastic) and am currently reading Sharing Sam by Katherine Applegate so a review on that will be up in about a week or so. Anyway, that's a little off topic. The point of this post is to show you guys what books I am planning to read over the summer. I am a slow reader so hopefully I will be able to finish all the books on this list quickly enough to regularly have new (or new-ish) content on this blog. Most of these books i bought a while back but haven't had the chance to read and the books at the bottom of the list are books that I don't have yet, but am planning to check out of my local library. Also, I will not be reading the books necessarily in this order.  Well, here we go...

The Kiss Murder by Mehmet Murat Somer

Blink by Malcolm Gladwell

Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain- I actually started reading this book in December, but never got the chance to finish it so I will probably be rereading it from the beginning. So far, I really like it.

The Book Thief By Markus Zusak- Agin another book I started in 2013, but never finished, so I will also be rereading this from the beginning.

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

Allegiant by Veronica Roth (sorry I couldn't find a picture for this one)

Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell (This is where the books I do have end and I have to get the rest of these books at the library. Sonce some of these books are pretty popular I might not be able to get them in time for the summer, but oh well. I'll try.) (couldn't find a picture for this one either)

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock by Mathew Quick

Every Day by David Levithan

Ask the Passengers by A.S King

If I Stay by Gayle Forman

So there you go; those are the book I want to read in the next three months or so. I will have a review on every book I mention whether I like them or not. In total, there are 12 books on this list so I ought to start reading now... Bye!