Reading challenges are a good way to start off the year, don't you think? I fell in a rather depressing reading slump -aren't they always?- for the past two weeks, which inevitably led to a blogging slump mainly because reviewing and blogging suddenly felt too much of a chore to me. December was a really hectic month, and I didn't feel like reviewing any of the books I read. Heck, I only wanted to enjoy them, not try to remember important things to talk about in my review afterwards. Plus, I've been putting off reading my review copies lately so it's been a really, really slow reading month. After I decided this wouldn't do, I went online and checked out the reading challenges that were available to take part in for 2015. Reading challenges are a lot of fun if you pick the right ones for yourself. I get easily dispirited if I fall back on reading challenges so I took extra care choosing which challenges to take part in this year. All of these challenges are quite easy and simple; if you feel like participating in a reading challenge but don't want too much of a hassle, you can consider the challenges I've listed out below. I didn't take part in challenges in which you have to review the book afterwards, chiefly because I'm trying to improve my academic performance this year, which is important, while enjoying blogging about books and reading them, which I enjoy. Below are the reading challenges I decided to participate in for the year 2015, all of which are suited to my student lifestyle. There's also a shelf I created on Goodreads, 2015-reading-challenges, to make sure I keep on track.
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Happy last day of 2014! Instead of the monthly wrap-ups that I never remember to write, today I'm doing a 2014 recap as the last post of 2014 on my blog. There's not much to explain because the title says it all, really. 2014 is truly the year of changes; I learned so much, did so much, and because of the many changes, I became a lot happier. In this recap, I will basically be sharing with you my life, bookish and non-bookish. My ups and downs. The best books of 2014. What I learned so far, both from blogging and reading. And of course, my hopes for 2015 - books, dreams, and NaNoWriMo! I'm wrapping up the memorable bits of 2014 so I can look forward to 2015 and the new things (and books!) it will bring. November and December were the two good months of 2014. Not to say that the other months were bad, but the most of 2014 felt like I was just barely scraping by because EXAMS. I had tons of exams because this was the year in which I took one of the most important exams in my life, so I was mostly studying and didn't have a lot of time to myself. When exams ended in October, I still had to attend music practice as there was a BIG (or big to me, at least) music competition in November but I had a lot of fun at the competition! I was really happy in a way that one can only experience through teamwork. You can see the pictures on Twitter (@perusebkshelves) because there's way too many and posting them here would also feel like a violation of their privacy (no offense!). I only had a few days to rest before attending a music camp (pictures also on Twitter) and again, I had a lot of fun there because there were SO MANY people that loved music too. We were able to connect with each other through music and it was really a once in a lifetime experience. It's was sheer craziness, these two weeks. The photos on the left are just a small portion of the shenanigans we were up to and the mass selfies we took. A week ago, my brother returned from China and he bought me this cute mushroom plushie! (My whole family thinks I'm in love with plushies, which is not; but I guess that's half-true in a way because I have a cupboard full of them.) It's the cutest thing ever and looks so happy sitting on my shelf. My wallet is silently weeping though, because I went on a few book hauls enough to bust my wallet and read so many books! I finished the manga of Clockwork Princess in one day and was reminded again of my love for the characters. The artist did a job of drawing the characters and made the whole reading experience even more enjoyable. Speaking of book hauls, I may have to go on a book buying ban in 2015 but...maybe not. A lot of good books are going to be published in 2015 and we, as book lovers, are well-known for not sticking to book-buying bans. Starting Perusing Bookshelves was the BIGGEST highlight of 2014. I played around with the layout and changed the theme a few too many times before settling with this white simplistic theme. PB was the driving force behind these changes that altered my life in a big way and made me all round a happier person.
I know the majority of book lovers have been interacting with authors for a long time now but I finally gathered enough courage to tweet Leigh Bardugo (author of the Shadow and Bone trilogy) and she replied! Not that it was much of a conversation but SCORE! *insert dancing girl GIF here*
(Great. Now I'm just taking down pictures from my Twitter account.) I just noticed that it looks like I'm wearing the same shirt in three out of four pictures. I do own an adequate selection of clothes to choose from, promise! It's just that I have really comfy home-y clothes.
I didn't get to read feverishly as much as I wanted (again, EXAMS) but I still had a lot of fun trying to complete the challenges and reaching the goal I set for myself. Of course, I will be joining the readalong next year (and hopefully the year after that) and try to encourage myself to host a challenge! I've always wanted to host a challenge in the #BoutofBooks readalong but I can't even squeeze a challenge from my brain that's remotely interesting enough compared to previous ones. Oh, well. There's always the Twitter Chats to look forward to!
My wish of all time has been granted! Now my bedroom looks much more inviting.
Every book blogger understands the joy of receiving the first ARC to review. It's like you're given a badge of honour...or something.
Because that was fun.
I know, I know. No big deal, right? But it is, for me. 2014 was the first year I set a reading goal for myself and honestly, I was kind of scared that I wouldn't reach it. I'm so glad to have completed the challenge! For 2015, I'm going to further challenge myself by setting a goal of 100 books. Practicing for the music competition and attending music camp were also prime moments in 2014. I could never explain how happy I was surrounded by these people. I finally found my place in life, guys. What I'm going to do in this section of my 2014 recap is to go through my 2014 Goodreads Reading Challenge and see what books I rated 4-5 stars on Goodreads. Clearly, everyone has their own favourite reads of 2014 and I have mine, so I'll be listing them out here one by one. I'll only be including books that were published in 2014. If a book cover appears clickable, it's probably linked to my review of said book. There was originally going to be a one-sentence explanation on what these books taught me, but alas, my memory's failed me. So, in no particular order: One can only have so many hopes and expectations. All of my plans for 2015 mainly focuses on books, blogging, and school. Being the easy forgetter that I am, I will keep this simple. A sudden passion to complete something totally new and different will probably spring up sometime in 2015, so I needn't worry about having no expectations for 2015! As every book lover out there, my first hope for 2015 is to read more books and try to keep up with my TBR pile, which I know is kind of impossible. But I want to read ALL THE BOOKS and feel ALL THE FEELS. ...which is probably unhealthly but WHATEVS. I'm also trying out this new money-saving habit which I make it compulsory to put my leftover money in a jar every day and at the end of the month/year or on special occassions, take some money from the jar and buy a book that I really want. Probably a book that's signed or something. That way, I can buy the books I want without my parents having to spend too much money. Also, if you've been following my posts for awhile you know that I also focus on my studies, which is again one of my 2015 hopes/plans. I hope to find a balance between blogging and studying; to always keep my grades up while also updating PB with bookish stuff. There's still a LOT of reviews that I have to catch up on. Seriously though, I'm very behind on the reviews that I'm supposed to post, and all of the blame's on the stupid book slump that's been haunting me for the past two weeks. I've also written a post on all the 2015 reading challenges I'm participating in, and completing these challenges is something that I'm determined to accomplish. To further immerse myself in books, blogging, and writing, I'm hoping to take part in more bookish events such as Bout of Books and NaNoWriMo! Speaking of which, I'm making 2015 my first year of NaNoWriMo. I don't care how busy I'll be; I've put off writing for so long and this year I'm finally doing it! I've already bought a small notebook to jot down ideas and stuff and I'm really looking forward to filling it up! Besides, one thing I've never maintained on this blog is to constantly come up with interesting ideas for posts. Really good ideas can pop up in my head on some days but not always do I know how to elaborate on them, so usually they stay as drafts. I'll try working on it, promise. I want this blog to be full of passion for books, and hopefully I can achieve that in 2015. Reviving my Tumblr and Pinterest accounts is a good start. And lastly, I hope to draw again. I didn't have much time to draw since I started blogging and eventually I just stopped but now, looking back on my pencils and previous work, I want to feel the intensity of trying to get a drawing right again. That is one wonderful feeling. WHAT I HAVE TO SAY FOR 2014: NO NOT REALLY. I LOVE YOU...BUT I'M SAYING GOODBYE TO YOU NOW SO ADIOS! WHAT I HAVE TO SAY FOR 2015: GOODBYE 2014, AND WELCOME 2015! I'LL SEE ALL OF YOU IN 2015!
After the Uglies trilogy, I wasn't sure about reading Afterworlds. The Uglies trilogy has had some mixed reviews and I wasn't feeling very positive about the entire trilogy (or series?) either. But since BEA, Afterworlds has gotten a handful of glowing praise and there's been a bit of buzz about it. Plus, the paperback edition of Afterworlds is huge. And wonderful. And I just had to get it because the premise sounded good. Teen author publishing her novel? I'm in. This was my reaction after turning the last page of Afterworlds: I was a tad disappointed. What's so funny about Afterworlds is that just like Uglies, there was a lot of potential which fizzled out later. The beginning makes you think that this book is going to be one of a kind, a book that you will give five stars to, without a doubt. A book that will hold your attention until the very end. When you reach the middle though, the story doesn't seem to be so brilliant after all. You start to wonder if the beginning of the book was just a ruse. Hold on...where did all that amazingness that made my insides do a happy dance go to? Like I said, the beginning of the book was excellent. It was a bit slow, but everything was perfect. I had a hunger to explore this new world that Darcy had created and was also given a chance to learn more about the world of authors...or whatever you want to call it. What makes Afterworlds more enjoyable is the alternating storylines or POVs. There are two different storylines in Afterworlds; one centers around Darcy, and the other, Lizzie. Darcy is the teen author who managed to write a draft of Afterworlds in one month (I know - sounds like NaNoWriMo, right?), and Lizzie is the protag living inside the world that Darcy created. We get to see those two worlds in different chapters, which is great. The insider tips about writing and publishing plus Darcy's bookish perks bumped this book up the relatable factor. It was both new and familiar territory, and for that Afterworlds will still be a well-loved book even for its meh ending. I also liked how it was made evident that there were two alternating storylines by marking Lizzie's POV -the character that Darcy created- with a black border on top. The major flaw about Afterworlds was that the story left out a lot of exposition, big time. I wanted facts. A bit explanation as to what was going on in Lizzie's bizarre world. Lizzie's story plunged on without the much-needed elaboration and as a result, there were a lot of things that I struggled to understand. The story felt like disorganized, like the author had a lot of good ideas but didn't properly arrange them into the plot. The irony in all this? Darcy was warned that her book had too much exposition, and I think the point of Afterworlds, and all the alternating chapters, was to give us a feel of Darcy as a debut author. Her story isn't the best out there. It's terribly flawed but later, Darcy was told about the many errors in her writing. She also starts to realize that being an author isn't easy and encounters several writing issues. I think that a bit of Darcy was reflected in Lizzie's character as well. Both of them are young to the world that they are suddenly exposed to and they slowly grow from their mistakes. All in all, Afterworlds wasn't too bad. Personally, I thought that there were too many facts left unexplained and Lizzie's story felt like a mess, but I guess it really depends on how you view the alternating stories. It truly was fun to see the world of writing and publishing through Darcy's POV. The first few chapters stirred something in me that had gone into hibernation for some time -the passion to write. After all, isn't Afterworlds dedicated to us readers? "To all you wordsmiths, you scribblers, you Wrimos in your vast numbers, for making writing a part of your reading." Any YA book lover or aspiring author will find this book relatable. There's two storylines told in alternating chapters so Afterworlds has that extra something to look forward to! my rating for Afterworlds:
'Tis the Season to Be Readin' is a month-long event in which Perusing Bookshelves is updated with Christmassy posts to spread the Christmas cheer and love of books. To know more, click on the graphic above! Love and Other Unknown Variables was a book that tore my heart open and made all my feelings go into overdrive. The author of this book, Shannon Lee Alexander, is a really inspring person. I love her posts on her website and how she emphasizes on hope and how important it is. Therefore, we have Shannon on PB today, talking about the books that inspired her! Let's give a warm welcome to Shannon and her book, Love and Other Unknown Variables!
Guest Post: Five Books that Inspired You and Gave You Hope Happy holidays, Perusing Bookshelves readers! I’m Shannon Lee Alexander, author of Love and Other Unknown Variables, a contemporary young adult novel about a math prodigy whose meticulously planned future is cast into chaos when he meets a girl with a tattoo of a mathematical symbol and a devastating secret. Love and Other Unknown Variables is a story of first love, heartbreak, and hope. Hope is important to me. It’s essential. It’s the piece of the grand puzzle that makes squinting over all those crazy tiny pieces worthwhile in the end. Hope carries you through to the moment that you set the last piece in, sit back, and think, Well, it all makes sense now! So I was thrilled when Kat asked if I’d share five books that have inspired me and brought hope into my life. Anyone who reads Love and Other Unknown Variables will immediately see that Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird is at the top of the list of books that inspire me, but for this list, I wanted to pick out some other gems, some going waaayyy back in my life. 1. The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams I have a stuffed bunny lovey, so of course, this book was right up my alley as a kid, because, of course, my bunny was really real. No doubt about it. When I was a young woman, the story took on a whole knew meaning as I was experiencing transformative love. And as a mother, watching my kids grow, succeed, and sometimes fail, I’m reminded that love is messy, exhausting, and sometimes bittersweet, but it lasts for always. 2. The Little Prince by Antoine Saint-Exupery This is another one of those books that has grown with me. When I was a teenager, I wanted to be treated like an adult. I wanted to be anywhere other than my own small hometown. Reading this book allowed me to travel wide and far, but also reminded me that perhaps being young wasn’t all that bad. As an adult, it helps me remember what an elephant looks like when it’s been eaten by a boa constrictor. 3. & 4. In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens: a Book of Womanist Prose & Possessing the Secret of Joy by Alice Walker Both of these books have gone missing from my shelves, which leads me to believe I loaned them to someone and haven’t gotten them back. I don’t remember who borrowed them though. If it was you, and you’re finished reading them, could I have them back, please? I read these books in my late teens, early twenties when I was in college. Alice Walker shook up my limited worldview. When I was living in Denver, she came to speak in this beautiful old theater. I sat in a balcony, sandwiched between two very different women, different both from each other and from me, and cried as she read to us. Cried because what she said was beautiful, but also because I wanted to find the courage to speak my mind just like her. 5. A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness I read this book a few years ago, and when I was done, I flat out demanded that EVERYONE read it. Well, I demanded it once I had stopped sobbing enough to catch my breath and make intelligible sounds. For those unfamiliar with it, Ness picked up this story about a boy dealing with his mother’s cancer after Siobhan Dowd passed away. She had written a synopsis for the story, but her own cancer took her before she could write the rest. Ness wrote a brilliant, beautiful story that truly encompasses the emotional spectrum of love. Now EVERYONE go read it so we can talk about it more! Thanks for hanging out with me today. I’m always looking for hopeful books to add to my TBR list, so I’d love it if you’d share a few of your favorites with me in the comments. Here’s to hoping for happy holidays for all!
'Tis the Season to Be Readin' is a month-long event in which Perusing Bookshelves is updated with Christmassy posts to spread the Christmas cheer and love of books. To know more, click the graphic above! Hello, dear readers! You may or may not have rememberedthe time when I read The Silence of Six and enjoyed it. Either way that's totally fine. In The Silence of Six, we don't get to know much about Evan - because he killed himself. (Not a spoiler because it's included in the blurb) For some reason, I kept thinking about him and what he would do if he was alive. He'd be an interesting character, which leads me to my next point. Today we have the author, E. C. Myers, on Perusing Bookshelves to talk about Evan (and, of course, Max) which is awesome. What's even more awesome is that Myers has graciously offered to give away two signed hardcover copies of The Silence of Six (I'm sallivating myself) plus bookmarks or an electronic copy, which is so cool of him to do that. So grab a mug of hot chocolate and prepare yourself to know more about Evan and Max!
GUEST POST: If Evan could be alive on Christmas -just for one day, what would Max have planned for their time together? Thanks for inviting me to contribute this holiday guest post! If you’ve read The Silence of Six, you know that Evan was deeply sentimental and generous, which made Christmas his absolute favorite holiday. He hadn’t made many friends in real life, but he loved making the people he cared about happy, and he had a special knack for finding them exactly the right present — sometimes the gift they didn’t even know they wanted. Having Evan back for even a day would be the best Christmas present Max could hope for. As sentimental as Evan is, he wouldn’t want to dwell on their past mistakes and focus on making apologies, so Max would concentrate on enjoying every minute of their time together. Evan loves surprises and puzzles, and he’s very nostalgic, so Max would plan a sort of scavenger hunt that would remind his friend of the good times they had, knowing that Evan would figure out even his most complex clues fairly easily and lead him around on a fun adventure in their hometown. Christmas morning would start with a big breakfast at Denny’s, where they used to spend late nights hacking into corporate servers. Max would rent out the small local cinema for a special screening of It’s a Wonderful Life, which Evan watched religiously every year, and a couple of other movies that Evan missed out on that Max knew he would love. (Unlimited popcorn!) They would drive around their hometown of Granville talking and listening to a special music mix he made just for Evan. They would sneak into Granville High School to fix themselves a school lunch in the cafeteria. (For some reason Evan liked the school lunches. Weird, right?) In the afternoon, they would trim the tree at Evan’s house, drinking eggnog and eating pie, before going to Max’s house for dinner with his dad, Evan’s parents, and their friends Courtney, Penny, and Risse. Then it’s the gift exchange! Max’s present to Evan is a special photo album. Evan loved trains and had always wanted to visit the B&O Railroad Museum, the site of the B&O Railroad Depot, which received the first telegraph message in 1844. Evan never made it, so Max took a solo trip to the museum in Baltimore, Maryland and took photographs of him there with a cardboard standup of Evan. Penny’s present is Evan’s old laptop, which she had recovered so they could spend the rest of their day in the place Evan had always been most comfortable: the internet. Back to Denny’s for an all-nighter! Do they hack any sites? Well, Evan may leave some “STOP was here” messages on various sites like whitehouse.gov, panjea.co, and the consulting firm Sharpe & Company — just a little holiday going away present. If you want to read more about Evan, download the free prequel short story, “SOS”, on Kindle, Nook, Kobo, and iBooks. The Silence of Six is available now from Adaptive Books in hardcover and eBook wherever books are sold online. Learn more at http://ecmyers.net. E.C. Myers was assembled in the U.S. from Korean and German parts and raised in Yonkers, NY by his mother and the public library. He is a graduate of the Clarion West Writers Workshop and a member of the prolific NYC writing group Altered Fluid. In the rare moments when he isn't writing, he blogs about Star Trek at The Viewscreen, reads constantly, plays video games, watches films and television, sleeps as little as possible, and spends far too much time on the internet. His first novel, FAIR COIN, won the 2012 Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy. Website I Twitter GIVEAWAY In case you need persuading (which you don't, this book is amazing), here's my review of The Silence of Six.
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Kat is a voracious reader who enjoys nothing more than losing herself in a good book. Fantasy is definitely her cup of tea. She often complains about never having enough time to read and constantly struggles with keeping her TBR pile a considerably decent size. Read more or keep up with her bookish whims on Goodreads or bloglovin.
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