Sunday Post 012 | IMWAYR

Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimberly @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news~ A post to recap the past week on your blog and showcase books and things we have received. Share news about what is coming up on our blog for the week ahead. See rules here: Sunday Post Meme

 Corny Joke Monday 

 Last (Two) Week(s) on the Blog 

TTT: Best Books of 2017 So Far List
As Old As Time by Liz Braswell Review
TTT: Series I've Been Meaning to Start But Haven't List
Kitty Hawk and the Curse of the Yukon Gold by Iain Reading Review
SUMMER READING LIST 2017 Challenge

 This Week on the Blog 

Update on Summer Reading 2017!
TBD

 What I'm Reading: 

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is a place to meet up and

share what you have been, are and about to be reading over the week. 

Specter of the Past by Timothy Zahn Star Wars

I LOVE ZAHN'S STAR WARS BOOKS! Seriously, he's the one who really got me into reading Star Wars books and now that I'm reading another of his (finally!) I remember how much I love him. I mean, who else is going to talk about the 'psychological presence of TIE fighters' and give Luke a moral debate on whether or not becoming too powerful in the Force is another path leading to the Dark Side?!

Battlefront: Twilight Company by Anthony Freed Star Wars (audio)

Still enjoying this, and almost finished too. *fist pump*

 What I Read: 

The Best Blades Star Wars: Clone Wars, vol 5
One thing I love about the Clone Wars -in all of its incarnations- is the variety of stories, characters, and genres. This one has a lot more stories about shady politics and the Jedi morals in the face of the war, which I found pretty interesting. The shady politics aspect of the Star Wars universe works a lot better in small doses like this, in my humble opinion. I may be misremembering, but I recall a lot of politics in the prequels, and a lot that I had a hard time grasping when I was younger.

Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman
Interesting book of essays from 1984 about Postman's observations and predictions on how television will effect us, our society, our thought processes, education, and the way the world works in general.

Nothing Left to Lose by Dan Wells John Cleaver #6
One of my Most Anticipated Books of 2017, this book is wonderful, creepy, amazing, and the perfect ending to a series but I can't really talk about it because I decided (a long time ago) that these reviews would be my comeback video reviews so I've been saving them. Now that that time is drawing closer, I can't back out of that plan now, can I?!

 Internet Shenanigans 

Last week (I think it was Friday) the Google doodle of the day was a celebration of Victor Hugo, which was a bit of a coincidence for me, because just the night before I discovered a cover of 'Hellfire' from the Disney adaptation I hadn't seen before.

Okay, to call it a 'cover' is a bit of a stretch. It was 'Google Translate Sings: Hellfire' from Malinda Kathleen Reese's channel, featuring Jonathan Young. Now, I'm a big Jonathan Young fan, which I may have mentioned; I love his Disney covers, but his (serious) cover of 'Hellfire' is one of his best and definitely THE best version of the song I've heard. Go listen to it. Right now. And then come back.

So of course I had to watch the Google Translate version. It did not disappoint.


Back to the Victor Hugo Google doodle. (whew. Say that ten times fast.) I jumped over to the 'learn more' section Google provided and discovered that Victor Huge lived on -and loved!- Guernsey! Of all places, Guernsey island! Of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society fame!

The things you learn. The things you discover.

 In Real Life 

I've been talking about how I'm going to start my YouTube channel back up again and, well, that's still the plan. And it just kicked into overdrive -in a slightly different direction.

I've just signed up for Jumpcut Academy to learn more about how to successfully use YouTube!

I'm very excited about this! And nervous. I'm both. Definitely. I'm really happy to get back into YouTube, but even happier having a resource now that will help me understand it all better. I don't know how this will effect my plan to start posting videos by August, so that's in limbo for the moment. This is going to be a huge commitment on my part, but the goal is to NOT let the blog suffer for it. I'll still be posting at least once a week here, more when I can.

I can't wait to see where this takes me! ^_^

Also CAMP NANOWRIMO!!!

This is the most I've written in such a short span of time in a very long time! And so far, I love the progress I'm making story-wise too. <3 I'm only writing every other day, so hopefully I can keep up the pace!

  What's new with you? 

It's Monday! Here's What I'm Reading...

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is a place to meet up and share what you have been, are and about to be reading over the week.  It's a great post to organise yourself. It's an opportunity to visit and comment, and er... add to that ever growing TBR pile! So welcome in everyone. This meme started with J Kaye's Blog   and then was taken up by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn at the Book Date. And here we are!

Jen Vincent, Teach Mentor Texts, and Kellee of Unleashing Readers decided to give It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? a kidlit focus. If you read and review books in children’s literature – picture books, chapter books, middle grade novels, young adult novels, anything in the world of kidlit – join them!

Good 2017, my fellow book dragons! It promises to be a good year. At least, I plan to make it so, and hope you do too! ^_^

 

What I Read Last Week:
I've somehow fallen into this deplorable habit lately of starting half a dozen books and audiobooks all at once and I haven't finished any of them yet. But I guess there was one thing I finished...

Avatar: The Last Airbender -Smoke and Shadow, parts 1-3 by Gene Luen Yang

Gotta admit, I loved a lot about this trilogy. The Avatar comics have been rather touch and go with me since the beginning, but I must say they're improving. Smoke and Shadow is probably my favorite of all to date, but let's leave the review for later, shall we?






What I'm Currently Reading:
*takes deep breath*
Are you ready for this?

Books:
The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden (Check out my review!)
An ARC from Netgalley that I am thoroughly enjoying, albeit a little slowly. Savoring. That's what I'd doing. Savoring.

The Green Man edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling
After reading their anthology The Faery Reel, I knew I had to read this one about the elusive 'Green Man' of mythology, which happens to be a topic of research at the moment.

The Last Gunfight: The Real Story of the Shootout at the O.K. Corral -And How It Changed the American West by Jeff Guinn
I have a mental list of books at my library that I need to read. They don't always make it onto my Goodreads TBR, but whenever I walk past their shelves, I get a reminder. This has been on that mental list for the better part of four years. I don't have a great track record with nonfiction, but I'm very interested in Old West history, so we'll see.

The Man With No Name by Frostfyre7
Okay, yes, this is a fanfiction. But it's a freaking amazing and totally believable Firefly/Doctor Who crossover and it is spectacular. Seriously.
You should go read it.
Right now.

I'm so excited about it I even made an appropriate YouTube playlist.

Audios:
Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas
I read this a few years ago and I didn't remember enjoying it all that much. At least, I swear I read it a few years ago. It's a favorite of a friend of mine so I decided to give it another go and -you know what? I don't think I actually finished it the first time around. Because I don't remember Fae in this story at all. Or magic. And you know what else? I really, really like it!

Elantris by Brandon Sanderson
I felt like I was well-read in Sanderson until I realized Mistborn: Final Empire was the only Cosmere novel I've read. Might as well start at the beginning! As always, fascinating and elaborate and captivating.

A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab
This has been on my TBR forever and I found this on my library's Overdrive. I love that, because I can put it onto my MP3 and listen when I can. I'm *almost* finished with it and I'm loving it.


What I'm Reading Next:
Next? Next?! Dudes, I'm not even sure I'll finish all of these!

Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson
At the very least, I've gotta read this. Book club book, you know.

Girls to the Rescue by Bruce Lansky
Recommended by my niece, who absolutely adores them, because these short stories are all about girls being brave and heroic!

The Assassin's Blade by Sarah J. Maas
Told you I was enjoying Throne of Glass.

Well, that's what I'm up to.
What are your recent and current reads?

#BookmarkMonday (5): Nature Bookmark

#BookmarkMonday
hosted by Aloi @ GuiltlessReading

#BookmarkMonday is a weekly meme that started in 2009.
Click the widget for more details!

Made from construction paper, packing tape, and dried flowers and leaves from our garden, this nature bookmark was a mandatory craft during a recent visit with some family members. ^_^

Bonus points: Can you name the book?
Last week's answer was: Inkheart by Cornelia Funke

August Wrap Up + Book Haul

First up, just a reminder about my Book Giveaway going on right now! I have three e-copies of Cheree Alsop's Werewolf Academy: Chosen to give out to some lucky winners. This giveaway closes Monday, Sep 9, so get your entries in. This is open internationally, so now you have no excuses. ;)

Now sit back and enjoy my August Wrap Up video! All the links are listed down below.

What I Read:

Secret Avengers vol 1 & 2 by Ales Kot
3 stars | Goodreads review

Thor: God of Thunder vol 1-3 by  Aaron
4 stars

Stolen Magic by Gail Carson Levine

4 stars

Library Wars vol 12 & 13

5 stars

Odd Hours by Dean Koontz

5 stars

Sidekicked by John David Anderson

4 stars | Video | Blog

Powerless by Tera Lynn Childs & Tracy Deebs

4 stars | Video | Blog

Marrow by Preston Norton

4 stars | Blog

The Blog Posts

Worth Watching: Battle Creek

Giveaway + Writing Update



Amanda & the Star Wars Summer
Episode I | Episode II | Video

 
Book Haul: 
Mistborn
The Well of Ascension
Legion & Legion: Skin Deep
Infinity Blade: Redemption & Awakening
The Emperor's Soul
Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell
Firstborn
Perfect State 
all by Brandon Sanderson
 Dungeoneers by John David Anderson 
Vicious by V.E. Schwab
Trixter & Tales of Arilland by Alethea Kontis

May Wrap Up: What I Read, Wrote, and Reviewed

What I read:

Of Enemies and Endings by Shelby Bach

Video Review | Blog
Spelled by Betsy Schow

Video Review | Blog
The Truth According to Us by Annie Barrows

Video Review | Blog 

Seekers of the Weird

**coming soon**
A Whole New World by Liz Braswell

**coming soon**

Bonus! For those of you ecstatic about the upcoming finale of The Ever Afters, I'm putting together a week-long blog party leading up to the release date. I'm looking for fan art as well as fans who want to answer fun series-related questions. If you want to participate or find out more, to that post.

There were also several audiobooks I started that I just couldn't get into. The God Engines by John Scalzi, but I know this disinterest was born of mood. Just coming off Scalzi's Fuzzy Nation, The God Engines was much more serious sci-fi than I anticipated. I'll likely pick it up again.

The second was The Magician's Lie by Greer Macallister. I'm not sure if I just couldn't get into the story or if it was just the audio, but it didn't pull me in. This was on my list of anticipated releases this year, so I might go back to it later.

My Top Tens:

Top Ten Tween Books
Top Ten Beach Reads

On the Writing Front:

I'm getting my second short story published! 'The Curious Concoctions of Thornton Thoreau' will appear in the October issue of Bards and Sages Quarterly.

Looking back, I wonder what I was doing with all my reading time last month. The answer: working on my novel. It's full of loose threads, timeline confusion, and in all around need of tightening, but I've had my nose to the grindstone, and it's looking better every day.

This month, I did discover an absolutely spectacular set of videos on YouTube of all the lectures from BYU's writing class. The one taught by Brandon Sanderson. I feel as though I've struck gold, and I'm more than happy to share my wealth.

And that's it. Ta-da!

Wrap Up, Book Haul, TBR, and Maybe the Kitchen Sink

In which I talk the books I read, the books I got, and the books I will read. Books, books, books, books, BOOKS!

 

ALL OF THE LINKS:

Vlogs:

Mini March Book Haul
Firefight review here and here

 Jackaby Review here and here.

 Mini March Book Haul 

Secret Life of Walter Mitty (Book vs. Movie)

From the blog:

My Thoughts on Frozen
Guest Post from J.E. Thompson
Ten Books From Childhood

EDIT: Something went belly-side up with the scheduler, so here's yesterday's post today. Sorry for the wait.

My Reading Challenge List

I know I've already talked about my Reading Goals for this year, but I just recently came across this epic challenge over on popsugar.com and I can't resist. This list will push me to read a little outside my comfort zone, but won't be so specific as to be, well, bleh.



The best part is, a lot of the books I already planned to read will fit nicely into one niche or another. I'm going to try to find one book for each challenge, but I might not succeed. There are 50 challenges here, and I only have a goal of hitting 75 books this year, including as many Star Wars books as I can possibly cram in. Because Episode VII, baby!

I already have several books selected and some of these (like a book made into a movie or a book with magic) will be easy to come up with. But there are a few -like a book originally written in another language or a book with bad reviews- that might take a little more brain power. I mean, every book has bad reviews, right? So is there a certain ratio of bad-to-good reviews we should be looking at here? Where does one find a book everyone hated? Maybe there's a Goodreads list for that...

A book your Mom loves = Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfeild
A banned book = To Kill a Mockingbird by Lee Harper
A Pulitzer Prize-Winning Book = The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara
A book more than 500 pages = [insert correct Brandon Sanderson title here]
A book a friend recommended = The Hollow Kingdom by Claire Dunkle
A book I started but never finished =The Cold Dish by Craig Johnson
A book that takes place in your hometown = Nightingale by David Farland
A book that takes place in high school = Skinny by Donna Cooner

Personally, I'm looking forward to finding one written by an author with my same initials (if anybody sees an A.T. author, please share!) and picking a book based on its cover. Muahaha.

Have you set any reading goals or challenges for this year? Share, share!

BookTubeAThon Wrap Up and Recovery

The BookTubeAThon has come to an end. It makes me sad, but it also means I can catch up on much-needed sleep. (Coffee? Someone please give me caffeine?!) One would think after all this reading I'd want a break, but no. I want to immerse myself in even more books. I want to lie on a pile of them as I read page after page.

*sigh*

Until next year, then.

I managed to finish 4 books during the BookTubeAThon, which doesn't come close to my ridiculously optimistic 11, but it is over 1407 pages. *jaw drops* That's almost 1500! If those were dollars instead of pages, that would be enough to by a pretty nice computer! If those were days instead of pages, I'd be 3.8 years older!

So yeah, I'm pretty happy with that.

The Reading Challenges

Of the seven Reading Challenges, I intended to tackle six. I actually finished 3:

• A book with pictures
• A book with red on the cover
• A book from a genre you've read the least this year
• Read (and watch) a book to movie adaptation
• A book someone else picks out for you
• Read seven books (or an average of 300 pages a day)
• Start and finish a series

The Video Challenges

I really dropped the ball on the video challenges. Time was not something I had in generous supply, and I spent most of that reading.

• Day One: Show your top 3 books you've read because of booktube.
• Day Two: Find the items on three covers.
• Day Three: Draw a better cover for any book.
• Day Four: Write a story using all the words from three titles.
• Day Five: Make a rainbow of your favorite books.
• Day Six: Find 5 things from one of the books you've read this week.
• Day Seven: Show us where you've read during the BookTubeAThon!

Bonus video! BOOK DOMINOES!

The Books

Of the eleven selected, I finished these four:

• The Killing Floor by Lee Child -2 stars/Too long/Not to Read
• Forever Odd by Dean Koontz -3 stars/Not as good as the first book, but not horrible/To Read, continuing series
• Alcatraz vs the Evil Librarians by Brandon Sanderson -5 stars/EXCELLENT and HILARIOUS/To Read
• George Washington's Secret Six: The Spy Ring That Saved the American Revolution by Brian Kilmeade and Don Yeager -5 stars/Interesting uncommon history/To Read
• 20% of The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of The Oxford English Dictionary by Simon Winchester [audiobook] 

The Experience

The hosts of the BookTubeAThon are brilliant. I doubt they spent very much time reading, because they were putting together awesome reading sprints on Twitter, featuring challenges, holding giveaway contests, and making sure everyone else was having fun.

Thanks so much to everyone who made this happen. I'm looking forward to Year 3!

Of all the challenges that I saw, I think my favorite ones had to be these two hilarious recreated Twilight scenes:

 

Seriously, though, next year? Realistic reading goals and MORE CHALLENGES!

How do I plan to recover after a week of non-stop reading? Tonight, sleep. Until then, COFFEE. And making up lost time in writing, of course. And may going a *little* crazy...

Java, java, java, java, JAVA!

BookTubeAThon Begins

It's that time of year again.
The BookTubeAThon is here.

WAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!



I am super-excited to announce my participation for a second year. I had such a blast last time (even if the flooding of the laundry room cut into my quality book time =/). This week-long reading abandon is my reward for finishing the latest draft of my novel.

The BookTube-A-Thon (July 14-21) is every reader's dream. An entire week during summer with every excuse to read, read, read, all day, all the time. 
Better than that, there are hosts keep you on track throughout the week with their own update videos, a list of official reading and video challenges you can do to make the week more fun, and a Twitter account with sporadic reading sprints and random dares to make it all more sociable.
Even if you're not a booktuber, you're welcome to join in!

This year I am going all out.

The Reading Challenges

Of the seven Reading Challenges, I intend to tackle six:

• A book with pictures
• A book with red on the cover
• A book from a genre you've read the least this year
• Read (and watch) a book to movie adaptation
• A book someone else picks out for you
• Read seven books (or an average of 300 pages a day)
• Start and finish a series

The Video Challenges

Since I already intended on daily video updates, I hope to accomplish all seven of these challenges:

• Day One: Show your top 3 books you've read because of booktube.
• Day Two: Find the items on three covers.
• Day Three: Draw a better cover for any book.
• Day Four: Write a story using all the words from three titles.
• Day Five: Make a rainbow of your favorite books.
• Day Six: Find 5 things from one of the books you've read this week.
• Day Seven: Show us where you've read during the BookTubeAThon!

These will be posted over on my YouTube channel -toreadnottoread- though I will add the playlist to my sidebar under 'My Latest Video' here on the blog so you can stay updated too!

The Books

Barring another natural disaster, I intend to read:

• The Killing Floor by Lee Child
• The Returned by Jason Mott
• Forever Odd by Dean Koontz
• Alcatraz vs the Evil Librarians by Brandon Sanderson
• George Washington's Secret Six: The Spy Ring That Saved the American Revolution by Brian Kilmeade and Don Yeager
• Explorer: The Mystery Boxes edited by Kazu Kibuishi
• Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
• Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling.
• The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of The Oxford English Dictionary by Simon Winchester [audiobook]

 

*GULP*

I may have picked too many...