Tag Archives: It’s Monday

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? (May 28)

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It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is a weekly meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journey to help us keep tabs on our reading goals for the week, and to also help us discover new books.

Also, Happy Memorial Day! My heartfelt thanks goes out to all the men and women who have fought or are currently fighting for my family’s freedom and safety. Additional thanks if you have or have had friends or family in the armed services.

So this is week 2 of my Dystopiaganza! I actually mostly finished my books from last week – only exception is I still need to finish The Knife of Never Letting Go (which I’m now thinking is not actually a dystopian…but I started it, and it’s interesting, so now I need to finish it). So that will happen this week.

In addition, this week I’m planning to tackle:

The Selection by Kiera Cass. After finishing The Maze Runner, which was like 400 pages of pure adrenaline, a pretty and romantic dystopian sounds very refreshing.

And, if I can get them in my possession, I would also like to read:

Starters by Lissa Price. I’ve got to be honest – this cover is not doing a thing for me. But I’ve heard the book is great, in spite of the bad cover.

Partials by Dan Wells. I’ve had this book described to me as Hunger Games meets Battlestar Galactica, and since those are two of my favorite things, I’ve been anxious to read this one for a while.

Only problem is, I don’t actually have either of those last two books in my possession…yet. I am hoping to acquire them both this week, but that is dependent on money and stuff, since my library has pretty much nothing in the New Releases category.

I’ll also be squeezing in:

Suffocate by S.R. Johannes. This is just a novelette, so it should go pretty fast, and it sounds like a really fun little read.

Happy Monday everyone! What are you reading this week?

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? (May 21)

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Welcome to another week of It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? hosted by Book Journey: the part of the week where I set ridiculously lofty goals for myself that I nearly always fail to achieve. But that doesn’t stop me from setting the bar high, because it would seem I am bad at learning my lesson. Speaking of which…

Guys, I have a confession to make.

I failed miserably last week. Failed. With a capital F-A-I-L.

I set out to read at least four books. I read one. ONE. Uno. The Book Thief was just a much heavier read than I was anticipating, and it swallowed my week. Plus, of course, life kept getting in the way. I went to an author event. I saw The Avengers. There were even more birthday parties (seriously, were all the children in my kids’ classes born in April and May?)

But instead of moving all of last week’s reads to this week, I’m changing it up. I’ve been asked to do a guest post on my friend Kelly’s blog in a couple weeks about dystopian books. And to prepare, I need to read some more dystopians. I’ve read some, but I need to read more. I know there’s no way I can read all the dystopians in two weeks, but I can at least put a bigger dent in them.

First off, I have to finish Angel Eyes by Shannon Dittemore. That will probably happen today, and I’m excited to announce that Shannon (who is ridiculously nice, FYI) has also agreed to an author interview sometime in the very near future when I can get my act together. So be on the lookout for that!

Then, TWO WEEKS OF DYSTOPIAN FUN. I may need a reality check when this is all over, people. On the docket for this week:

Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi. I’m so pumped. I’ve been itching to read this one for months.

The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness. I honestly have no idea what I’m getting into with this one, but I’ve heard great things.

The Maze Runner by James Dashner. Again, heard great things. Again, so pumped.

The Glimpse by Claire Merle. There aren’t an abundance of reviews out yet for this one, as it’s a June 2012 release, and what I’ve read so far have been severely mixed. Some love it, some vehemently hate it. So this one could be interesting. We’ll see.

I am banking on the fact that YA dystopians tend to go pretty fast. Plus, I do not have ALL THE ACTIVITIES planned for this week. Although my children do finish school tomorrow, which means the second half of my week is going to be kid-filled and chaotic. I’m hoping I can somehow squeeze in some reading around….that.

I need to get through these this week though, because I have some more potentially awesome dystopians planned for next week!

And yes, I know I’m setting myself up for some minor frustration by reading only book 1 of a bunch of trilogies. But a girl can only fit so much into two weeks. Books 2 and 3 can wait. I hope.

Off I go to mess with my sense of reality.

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? (May 14)

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It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is a weekly meme hosted by Book Journey. It’s a great way to plan your reading week (because some of us are nerds and like to plan our reading week) and also get ideas for other great books!

Last week, as per usual, I got a little bit off my scheduled order of events. Instead of “squeezing in” Defiance when it arrived on Saturday, I just completely replaced The Danger Box. I only had enough time for one more, and Defiance was calling my name. And it. Was. Amazing. I’ll gush more about it later.

So I will attempt to do The Danger Box this week, but it may get shoved off again, because I got some books out of the library that I’m itching to start. Those include:

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. I’ve heard some great things about this book, and it will be an interesting change of pace from all the fantasy/dystopian I’ve been reading lately.

Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer. This book about a teenage girl surviving in a post-apocalyptic world (after a meteor pushes the moon off its axis, resulting in global catastrophe) has been met with mixed reviews, but I’ve been intrigued by it for a while. Time to plunge in and see where I stand.

Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins. I’ve heard this is a fun and magical read, and I think it will balance the other two books this week nicely. 
I may also try to squeeze in (if I have time):
Angel Eyes by Shannon Dittemore. This was a surprise bonus in the envelope with Defiance. It isn’t that long, and sounds interesting. If I don’t get around to this one this week, it’ll be on next week’s list for sure.
That’s my reading week! What’s yours look like? 

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? (4/30)

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It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is a weekly meme hosted by BookJourney. It’s a great way to plan your reading week and see what others are reading!

On my plate for this week:

The Wise Man’s Fear by Patrick Rothfuss. I know, this was on my list last week. I know, I still haven’t finished. I know, I’m still in essentially the same part of the book. I need to just plow through to the end. I’ll probably be glad I did.

Timepiece by Myra McEntire. Really excited about this one, as I loved the first book in the series, Hourglass. You can read my Hourglass review here, or you could probably just scroll down. I mean, it was my most recent post. So far I am really enjoying experiencing this world through Kaleb’s eyes.

The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen. I received this one in my goody box from Scholastic, and I’m super-stoked about it. I’ve heard nothing but good things.

And, last but not least….

Insurgent by Veronica Roth. The wait is finally over! This will arrive at my doorstep sometime on Tuesday (probably around dinnertime, as we are notoriously late on our UPS guy’s route). Super-psyched to find out what Tris and Four have planned after the über-craziness that was the end of Divergent. If I’m being realistic with myself, I probably won’t sleep much on Tuesday night.

There’s another couple I’d like to squeeze in if I have time, but really, four (well, 3.5-ish since I’m already nearly finished with one of them and partway through the next) books is probably plenty for me to be tackling this week.

That’s it for me this week, unless I am way more on top of my game than usual. Happy reading!

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

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It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is a weekly meme hosted by Book Journey. It’s a great way to share what you’re reading, and to see what others are reading and enjoying. My TBR (to-be-read) list is growing by leaps and bounds, and I couldn’t be happier  about it.

So today I’m actually in the middle of two books. The first is The Wise Man’s Fear by Patrick Rothfuss.

The Wise Man’s Fear is Book 2 in The Kingkiller Chronicle, and sequel to The Name of the Wind (read my review for NOTW here). We’re still following Kvothe in his tale of how he became the most legendary hero of all time. I was enjoying how things were actually happening in this book (my main complaint with the last one was that while it was entertaining and enjoyable, there wasn’t a lot of forward motion in the plot).

Kvothe got moving (finally). He uncovered a plot. He was sent on a mission. New, interesting characters were introduced. Huzzah!

But then Kvothe went on his foray into the Fae with Felurian for 100 pages, and all that lovely forward momentum came to an abrupt halt. Now, I still have a good amount left in this book (I’m about 2/3 of the way through), so I have faith that surely it will redeem itself for Kvothe’s seemingly completely irrelevant escapades with Felurian.

But I needed a break for a little bit from Kvothe. He was frustrating me again, and I find I enjoy the books more when Kvothe and I have spent some time apart. It’s just the way our relationship works.

Which brings me to…..

Glitch by Heather Anastasiu. I received an advance digital galley of Glitch from the publisher for review (Glitch will be released on August 7). It’s another YA dystopian, which is just what the doctor ordered to alleviate my Kvothe frustrations. What better to distract me from a book where not much is happening than a book in a genre known for its breakneck pacing?

Glitch follows Zoel/Zoe (she goes by two different names depending on her location and company. I’ll call her Zoe for simplicity’s sake), a teenage girl raised in The Community. In The Community, people have technology implanted at a young age that will wipe them of all emotion and enhanced sensory function. They see the world in shades of gray (literally), feel nothing, and go through life driven by logic and duty, nothing more.

But Zoe has been “glitching.” Her implants aren’t doing their job, and emotions are slipping through. Zoe is terrified (an anomalous emotion itself) of being discovered. Discovery could mean deactivation (death). Or it could mean that she will be repaired, and lose her emotions — and she’s not sure she wants that to happen.

So far, Glitch is a fun “popcorn book.” The premise is definitely interesting, and while I was kind of expecting the “shocking revelation” that Zoe receives early on (I may have read too many books in this genre to ever be truly surprised again), it’s still been enjoyable so far.

A love interest has already been introduced (in kind of heavy-handed fashion, I might add). Some of the dialogue is simply oozing cheese. I’m hoping it kind of dials back a bit in the rest of the book, because I’m not sure how much mooning teenage angst I can deal with. Right now the romance has backed off a bit, and for that I’m grateful.

I like a good love story as much as the next person, but kind of wish that the romances in YA lit nowadays were a little more Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy, and a little less Bella and Edward.

Anyway, it’s still a fun read so far, and the pacing is definitely helping me fill the “I just need something to happen, dangit!” quota in my brain. I’m about 1/3 of the way through, and have no doubts I’ll be finishing it this week.

Not sure what I’ll be reading next. I downloaded a ton of new books to my Kindle last week, so we’ll just have to see what I’m in the mood for after these two.

Happy reading!