TGIF- Reading Challenges

TGIF is hosted by Ginger at GReads!

This weeks question:

Reading Challenges: Did you sign up for any this year? 

How has your progression been?

 I signed up for a few this year.....

The Début Author Challenge

The Non-Fiction Challenge & 

I challenged myself to read 75 books this year on GoodReads

I've definitely done well in the début author challenge, I love reading début authors, I am often blown away by their first book. I also think it's important to support new authors. I haven't been very good at linking my reviews up to The Story Siren or entering the give-aways though..

I've not followed through on the Non- Fiction Challenge at all! I made a goal of 12 non-fiction books and I've only read one. (pathetic)

I'm at about 45 books read for the year which means I'm a bit ahead of my challenge on Goodreads. 45 is great for me so far considering I only read about 50 the whole year last year. Sometimes I feel badly that I don't read as much as other bloggers,  but all we can do is what we can do right? 

What Challenges have you entered this year? What ones would you recommend signing up for next year?

It's Friday!!! TGIF & Follow

TGIF is hosted by Ginger at GReads. Each week a new book related question is posted: 

This week: 

Book Disappointments: Have you ever come across a book you were so stoked to read, but it failed miserably in your eyes? 

 I know that there are many who have loved this book, actually the entire series. There is still a waiting list for this one at my library. I thought it sounded wonderful, my book-club chose it as a selection, it's adult and met my "adult" quota for the month. I didn't get past page 100. Apparently, If I had read to page 132, I would have been hooked. But 132 pages? That's a lot of time to devote to one book before getting hooked.

Have you read it?

It's been forever since I participated in the Friday Follow which is hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read. I really liked the question this week:

What imaginary book world would you like to make a reality?

The world of Harry Potter.....it's real already isn't it? A very small part of me likes to believe that it is, a larger part of me can not wait for my Pottermore email :)

Have a great weekend everyone! Be sure to leave I link so I can check out your answers:)

TGIF- Book Associations & Reading Style

TGIF- is hosted by the wonderful Ginger at GREADs. Each week, a different book related question is posted for us to answer. *Congrats to Ginger on having TGIF  nominated for a Book Blogger Award*

This week's question:

Book Associations:

Which genre, authors, or particular books do you think people associate with your reading style?

At work (the library)I'm the go-to gal for middle grade and YA fiction. As for specific genre's I tend to lean toward Dystopian, Paranormal, Sci-fi and Fantasy. Contemporary or historical fiction has to be extremely good for me to be drawn in.

Reading Style:

I recently attended a Readers Advisory workshop and was introduced to the idea of:

 "Appeal Factors" "The aspects of a book that engage readers"

  These are the reasons readers choose the books they do (even if it is subconsciously) and why a book that I may have loved might not appeal to everyone. It was fascinating to recognize the similarities in the books I have read and loved across several different genres and age groups.

And I love the idea of my "reading style" being my very own.

The factors were things like Story, Writing Style(Pace), Characterization, Frame (background) . I generally love the books that are driven by the story, or who have characters I can easily relate to. When it comes to books that have complex back stories, or jump back and forth too much I tend to lose interest quickly. I also tend to avoid books with too much description- you know the ones that take 20 pages to describe a tree...but I know many people who relish in the language in books like that.

If you would like to read more about appeal factors you can check out these links

http://raforall.blogspot.com/2010/02/working-with-specific-appeal-factors.html

http://www.sjrlc.org/RAhandouts/appealfactors.html

http://nslappealfactors.blogspot.com/

Thanks for stopping by, Have a fabulous weekend! and don't forget to leave a comment so I can visit you too!

TGIF - Taking it Personal

TGIF- is hosted by the wonderful Ginger at GREADS. Each along with celebrating the fact it's Friday, Ginger posts a book related question for us to answer-

this week...

Taking it Personal: Which books have effected you on a personal level and lingered in your mind long after you closed the pages?

I'm unable to choose just one, I could list at least 10, but I'll limit it to 3

The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate Di Camillo

A book that I've read 10 times, and I sob each time. So many wonderful things about this one, it's just lovely and at the time when I first read it I clung to the words tightly. This book comforted me at a time when I really needed it.

If I Stay by Gayle Forman

An incredible book...this one stayed with me for days. You can read my review of it here. I own the next one-Where She Went, but I still can't bring myself to read it yet- not sure of what I'm waiting for...

Delirium by Lauren Oliver

 

Lauren Oliver has become one of my most favourite authors. There is just something about the way she writes that speaks to me more than others.

You can read my review here. A powerful, and inspiring read.

When I look at the underlying themes of the books that move me the most, it seems they all share something in common. They look at love as a choice. Is loving someone and being loved worth the possible pain if you lose them? And if you do lose them....can you, will you make the choice to go on without them? 





TGIF (6)

TGIF is hosted by Ginger at GREADS. This week's question:

Book Blogger Appreciation:

Which book blogs have inspired you or made a difference in your blogging experience?

Wow, so many!

The first blog that lead me to blogging was Abby the Librarian. She has amazing program ideas and I loved reading about her days in childrens services.  I then discovered The Story Siren and that really cemented the idea of starting my own book blog.

The blogs I go to daily : Greads, The Broke and The Bookish, The Perpetual Page Turner,
Cari's Books Blog, Book Labyrinth, Midnight Bloom Reads , Anna Reads and The Makeshift Book Mark. and so many more I could list forever......

Thanks to you all, I am inspired by you.

TGIF and Follow Friday

TGIF is hosted by the fabulous Ginger at GREADS. One of my most favourite bloggers. 

This weeks question:

Blogger Confession: What's the last book you could not finish? 

(or had a hard time finishing?) 

 

The last book I could not finish was The Girl with the a Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson. It was my book clubs choice and everyone I talked to just loved it! I made it 100 pages in and the author was still talking about flowers on the wall. I gave up. Apparently if I had made it to page 140 then the action would have started but there are just too many books waiting to be read to go back and try again. -

No recap this week-it's been quiet on the blog but CRAZY at work

 

 

 

                       Follow Friday is hosted by Parajunkee's View! This week's question is a bit similar....

 

What's the worst book you've read and actually finished?

 

This is tricky to answer because I don't usually finish a book if I don't like it-I love reading too much to force myself to read something.  If I had to pick something it would probably be Eat, Pray Love. I know many women just LOVE this book but maybe I was too cynical while reading it. I just think it's easy to Eat and Pray  and Love in beautiful places when you don't need to work full time.

 

What was your answer?

Happy Weekend everyone!

TGIF-Quotes

Yeah! It's Friday! TGIF is hosted by the fabulous Ginger at GREADS. Each week features a different book related question:
This weeks question:

And I Quote: What are some of your favorite book quotes?



The written word speaks to me in a way that nothing else can which is why I'm so in love with reading. I truly feel that books sometimes fall into my hands at the exact moment they need to because there is something I need  to see, envision or learn. Lauren Oliver's books are an example of this.....so many wonderful things inside the covers which is why I keep so many quotes from her books......


"I guess that's what saying good-bye is always like--like jumping off an edge. The worst part is making the choice to do it. Once you're in the air, there's nothing you can do but let go."

— Lauren Oliver (Before I Fall)

"Maybe you can afford to wait. Maybe for you there's a tomorrow. Maybe for you there's one thousand tomorrows, or three thousand, or ten, so much time you can bathe in it, roll around it, let it slide like coins through you fingers. So much time you can waste it. But for some of us there's only today. And the truth is, you never really know."
— Lauren Oliver (Before I Fall)

"One must always be careful of books," said Tessa, "and what is inside them, for words have the power to change us."
— Cassandra Clare (Clockwork Angel)


"And now I know why they invented words for love, why they had to: It's the only thing that can come close to describing what I feel in that moment, the baffling mixture of pain and pleasure and fear and joy, all running sharply through me at once."
— Lauren Oliver (Delirium)

"Sometimes the greatest gift you can give someone is to accept whatever it is they’ve got to offer you”
--Anna Humphrey (Rhymes with Cupid)

"Sometimes you make choices in life and sometimes choices make you."
— Gayle Forman (If I Stay)

"It´s so strange how life works: You want something and you wait and wait and feel like it´s taking forever to come. Then it happens and it´s over and all you want to do is curl back up in that moment before things changed."
— Lauren Oliver (Delirium)

"The whole point of growing up is learning to stay on the laughing side."
— Lauren Oliver (Before I Fall)

I don't know if authors really fully know what an impact they have on our lives. Escapism yes, but they also have lead the way for many life changing moments just through their words. Lauren Oliver and Gayle Forman (and many others) have truly impacted mine and I'll be forever grateful.

TGIF (2)

TGIF is a feature hosted by the fab GREADS! We answer a bookish question and recap the week's post.

This week's question:

Which book covers are you lusting over right now?

These grabbed my attention right away.

Story Time
Top Ten Tuesday
Waiting On Wednesday
Story Time with Pete the Cat

TGIF

A weekly feature created by the fabulous GReads to recap the posts from the week

and discuss all things bookish.

This week's question:

Book Mourning: does this happen to you? When you finish an amazing book, do you find yourself at a loss to pick up another one?

It absolutely happens to me! I floundered for days after reading Delirium by Lauren Oliver. I could not stop thinking about it, and every book I picked up after  just paled by comparison. Clarity by Kim Harrington was the book that snapped me out of it and got me back on track to the land of reading again.-thank goodness.

In My Mailbox (20)

Waiting on Wednesday- City of Fallen Angels

Review: Seer of Shadows by AVI