All the Books (August 24, 2013)

WHAT I'VE READ

The much-anticipated You Look Different In Real Life, by Jennifer Castle. You can find my review here; unfortunately, though I liked the book, I didn't like it as much as I wanted to. Hopefully at some point this next month I'll get to where I'm actually reading more than <1 book a week, but right now it just doesn't seem to be happening.

BOOKS ON THE LIST

Somewhat surprisingly, neither of these interesting-sounding books are contemporaries. A Matter of Days is a post-apocalyptic, disease-has-killed-everyone story of survival with a crazy simple premise. And Anna Jarzab's Tandem is sci-fi dealing with alternate universes. ALTERNATE UNIVERSES. Sign me up.

All The Books (August 17, 2013)

WHAT I'M READING

Alright, it's sad, but I haven't finished any books this week.

BOOKS ON THE LIST

I absolutely loved Diana Peterfruend's first classic reimagining in a sci-fi setting, and I'm really super excited for this one as well. It's a reimagining of The Scarlet Pimpernel, which I haven't read -- but I hadn't read Persuasion either, so that's fine -- and if it's anything like For Darkness Shows the Stars I know it's going to be incredible.

NEW BOOKS

This week the library was having an insane book sale and I managed to get all three of these for under $2, which is most excellent. They aren't books I felt like I needed to buy (although you can probably tell I'm in a bit of a Elin Hilderbrand phase lately), so I'm fully okay with setting them on my shelf where they'll sit until I have nothing else to read.

MORE BOOK STUFF

The title and cover for the third book in the Shatter Me trilogy was revealed -- yay, Ignite Me looks so gorgeous! To be honest I still haven't read Unravel Me (and am not sure if I will, honestly -- when I reread the first book I was surprised by how dark it was and how much I hadn't noticed on my first read). But I loved Shatter Me so so so so much the first time I read it that I'm thinking I may wait until all three are out and then read some reviews and see if I want to read the entire series. I'm super conflicted about these books, to be honest.

All The Books (August 10, 2013)

WHAT I'M READING

This week I read my second Elin Hilderband book, Barefoot. I liked the book a surprising amount, especially considering I disagreed with almost every decision that almost every character made and didn't much care for the characters (with the notable exception of Vicki, the mother with cancer). Based on this book and The Island I think I can say that Hilderbrand's books, for me, are reliably fun and really well-written; I just hope I like the characters and their choices more in the next book I read from her.

BOOKS ON THE LIST

I haven't been on Goodreads much this past week, so I didn't add anything new to my wanting list.

BOOKS I HAVE

 

Now that I have a J-O-B, I finally let myself buy some new books. You Look Different In Real Life has been on my list ever since I heard about it and I'm so so so excited to finally get to read it. And Such A Rush has such a great premise, so I'm really hoping I end up liking it. It was 75% off at Hastings, so of course I had to buy it; there really was no choice.

All The Books (August 3, 2013)

I know it's been ages since I've done my "All the Books" meme, but here it is again (and hopefully I can keep it up this time!) -- what I'm reading, what I've read, and what I've got in my TBR pile.

WHAT I'M READING 

(Books I've read this past week)

A post about this book is coming on Monday. I got it at a used bookstore and had high hopes that it didn't quite meet. I'm thinking that readers who love yoga (or have any interest in it whatsoever) might get more from the book than I did.

BOOKS ON THE LIST

(Books added to my wishlist this week)

I've been making monthly "wanting" lists, and somewhat amazingly these are the (only) three books from August that really jumped out at at me. The Golden Day sounds pretty and creepy, but I'm hoping not too creepy. Just Like Fate is a twisty, contemporary-with-a-dose-of-sci-fi book that I'm really hoping stands up to how great I really want it to be. And then there's Kelly Fiore's debut novel, Taste Test, which I am just incredibly excited about. Chefs-who-fall-in-love has sounded like a great premise to me ever since I watched an episode of Private Chefs of Beverly Hills years ago. (Because yes, that was a real show that I really watched.) So I'm excited about this one.

BOOKS I HAVE

(New books I've acquired this week)

I was crazy excited to win a signed, personalized copy of this from Zoe's Book Reviews. It's so right up my alley, so I'm really hoping I love it (but, of course, attempting to go in without any prejudgements. A huge thank you to both Zoe and Daisy Whitney for the book!

All The Books - July 21, 2012

THIS WEEK IN READING

I'm a little surprised that I only read one book this week, especially considering that The Help is actually a fairly fast read -- mostly because it's all but impossible to put down. My friend had told me that it's even better than the movie, and she was right. Since this isn't a YA book I won't be reviewing it on the blog, but it's one that you should read if you haven't already: the voices of Skeeter, Aibileen, and Minny are distinct; the story is greatly captivating; and the writing is more than solid. I so enjoyed it.

BOOKS I WANT

This one (a sort-of retelling of Romeo and Juliet) has been on my radar for quite a while. Though I'm not so much a fan of the cover (weird, bland, almost-kissing), the story itself sounds really intriguing. Plus, check out the paperback cover -- is it not so much better?)

BOOKS COVERS

Ah, I love the cover for this anthology. Having read a few of the stories in the book I'm not really sure how well the cover fits (the book is quite a bit darker, in my opinion). Still, this cover is totally eye-catching and awesome.

I was so excited to see the cover for Scarlet, Marissa Meyer's sequel to Cinder. I love the red cape (Red Riding Hood!) and like how it matches the Cinder cover.

All The Books: July 14, 2012

THIS WEEK IN READING

 

Remember last year when I read Leverage and then I talked about it so much that you were all probably like, "okay, shut up, we get it, you're in love with Kurt Brodsky." Remember that? Well prepare for my love for Fangirl to be exactly the same except, of course, for the fact that Fangirl and Leverage have virtually NOTHING in common except for both being realistic YA novels. All of this is my long rambling way of saying that, you guys, Fangirl is so incredibly incredibly fantastic. I love it beyond words and when it comes out in October you should snatch it up.

NEW BOOKS (AKA: BOOKS I JUST HEARD ABOUT)

This book isn't coming out until 2013, but I really love the cover. (Of course, who knows what might change between now and then.) And the story sounds cute, romantic, and issues-driven all at the same time.

OTHER BOOK NEWS

The cover and summary for Nova Ren Suma's upcoming YA novel, 17 & Gone, is finally up. To be honest the whole missing girls/kidnapping thing really freaks me out, but Suma's one of my most admired writers and her prose is always so great. So while I'm not sure if I'll be reading this one, I love that she has another book coming out.

All The Books: July 7, 2012

READING

 

Overall, this was a pretty winning week as far as reading goes. I absolutely loved Walk Two Moons (and am giving away a copy over here) and read two other adorable YAs: Time Between Us, which is sort of a teenage version of The Time Traveler's Wife, and Miss Fortune Cookie, which was just so. so. cute.

BOOKS I WANT

I wasn't planning to read it, but while she was visiting my friend convinced me that I have to give The Help a try. I saw (and loved!) the movie, so she better be right when she says that the book is even better.

NEW BOOKS (AKA: BOOKS I JUST HEARD ABOUT)

S&S sent me a surprise review copy of this book, which appears to be a YA sci-fi comedy about a pregnant teenager whose baby daddy is an alien, or is fighting aliens, or something. I don't really know. I do know that it has a lot of 4- and 5-star reviews on Goodreads and that it's something totally different. It's also the first in a planned trilogy, which always makes me nervous for a variety of reasons.

BOOK COVERS

Alright, readers, what do we think of the new covers for Beth Revis' Across the Universe series? (See above for the Shades of Earth cover; the other two books are, I believe, going to be rereleased with matching covers.) Personally, I'm torn. On the one hand these covers are completely sci-fi which I think will draw more/different readers than the original covers. On the other hand I want my covers to match and, if I'm being totally honest, I like the original hardcover covers the best. If I had my druthers I'd like covers that match the reversible/blue/spaceship side of the first book's cover.

All The Books (June 30th)

Well, it's been a while since I've done an All The Books post and my ALA recap seems to cover most of it. BUT NOT ALL! No, no, not all. There are a few bookish things I'm super excited about.

READING

I recently read The Best Night Of Your (Pathetic) Life, by Tara Altebrando and am right smack-dab in the middle of (re)reading Everything on A Waffle, by Polly Horvath, which was one of my favorite books I read as a kid. I'm loving it so much this time around as well and was shocked when me and my sister looked at the copyright date and discovered it was only published in 2001 -- it seems much older to me, though I'm not sure why. Anyway, if you haven't read it, I really suggest it, especially if you like smart, bittersweet, funny children's novels. (I guess this one would probably be considered middle grade.)

BOOK COVERS

If you haven't seen them yet, the new covers for Tahereh Mafi's Shatter Me series are absolutely breathtaking. Pretty much exactly what I was hoping for; they fit the story so well, so much better than the generic cover the hardcover of Shatter Me has. I'm totally buying a paperback of Shatter Me when it hits shelves.

BOOK DEALS

I've come to love Robin Palmer's contemporary retellings of fairy tales and her deal for a Sleeping Beauty-inspired contemporary YA titled ONCE UPON A KISS has me all kinds of excited. Plus, it has a fun time-twist element that reminds me of Prada & Prejudice.

All The Books: June 9, 2012

BOOKS I'VE READ

This has been a  s l o w  reading week; the only book I managed to finish was Beth Kephart's Small Damages. It's the first Kephart book I've read and the writing here was wonderfully lyrical. I quite liked it.

OTHER BOOKISH THINGS

I wasn't at BEA or the BEA Book Blogger Con, but I did keep up with many of the blogger con tweets and later read this write-up of the event. From my point of view as a blogger, the event seemed like it was probably pretty disappointing.

The bloggers at The Readventurer have made one of the most awesome flow charts ever for Stacked, full of YA book recommendations. In case you're wondering, it suggests I read the Jessica Darling series. (I've read the first book but abandoned the series somewhere in the second novel.)

& A SONG...

I love Alan Jackson's new album, but this song is definitely my favorite from it. When I'm not listening to the playlist for my current work in progress, I'm listening to this on repeat. Loooove it.

All The Books: June 2, 2012

BOOKS I'VE READ

 

I read Nothing Special, the (very worthy) sequel to last year's Stupid Fast and it was so good. I also read my first-ever Agatha Christie novel and am now wondering why I've never read her before, because And Then There Were None was just a masterfully-written whodunit mystery.

OTHER BOOKISH THINGS

Behold! A picture (from Beth Revis' tumblr) that influenced the cover of A Million Suns. I can definitely see the similarity there.

Also, I love this idea: book/tv/other media recommendations based on how good the spines look together. Karen Kavett calls them visual playlists and I think I'm probably definitely going to be making some of my own.

And then there's book spine poetry, which is another idea I love. (Maybe when I do the visual playlists I'll include book spine poetry?)

& A SONG...

Ahhhhh, I love this song. I haven't heard the rest of John Mayer's new album (Born & Raised), but based on this song I might just have to. It's not a play-over-and-over song for me, but it is a powerful one.

All The Books: May 26, 2012

BOOKS I'VE READ

Aside from the book I abandoned this week (172 Hours On The Moon), this has been a really good reading week. Both A Million Suns and The Summer I Learned to Fly were so much better than I was expecting. A Million Suns is maybe the best YA sci-fi I've read that's not straight dystopia and I love that it's total sci-fi. And The Summer I Learned to Fly was exactly right up my alley.

BOOKS ON THE LIST

Alright, with the books I've added to my wanting list this week I guess I should mention how I decide what books I add to this list. Basically: anything that looks interesting gets added to the list and then every month or so I go through and delete a bunch of books that I know I probably won't actually read. Shine Shine Shine is one book that looks interesting (published this coming July) while Cold Hands, Warm Heart is one that a few Twitter buddies recommended after I mentioned that I'd like to read stories about heart transplants.

BOOKS I HAVE

Ahhhh I'm super-excited about both of these (yeah, I already read one of them...) since they're contemporary YA and they both look really cute.

& A SONG...

"Watching You Watch Him" - Eric Hutchinson

I always seem to really like songs that have sad lyrics but super-happy music, so this one's definitely one of my recent favorites. (Also it should be noted that Khy, from Frenetic Reader, started adding music to this meme first and I just loved the idea.)

All The Book: May 19, 2012

BOOKS I'VE READ

This week I read Unwind, which was a total trip. It's a book I've been hearing about for a while but hadn't really planned to read until I found it at the used bookstore. Definitely one of the weirder books I've read. I also read Melissa Walker's new one, Unbreak My Heart, which was cute and heart-tugging.

BOOKS ON THE LIST

Flat-Out Love just looks adorable and the summary, vague as it is, is definitely interesting enough to pique my interest. And I'm tossing around the idea of writing a story inspired by my favorite song; Trish Dollar mentioned Lit Riffs to me over Twitter and though short story collections are usually hit-and-miss with me, I want to give it a try. Last is This Is Not A Test, which I sort of have mixed feelings about reading. On the one hand it's Courtney Summers and I know how great her writing is. On the other hand I've only tried a couple of zombie books and none of them were ones I really ended up liking (I'm not even sure if I finished them). The subject matter definitely isn't one that appeals to me but I've heard enough people say even if you don't like zombie books that I'm willing to give it a try.

BOOKS I HAVE

I remember reading and loving this book as a kid, so when I stumbled across it in a used bookstore, I decided I just had to buy and reread. So far it's just as charming as I remember. It's totally a comfort read.

OTHER BOOK STUFF

This week I went though my YA bookcase and ended up getting rid of five stacks of books. If I had to guess I'd say it ended up being around 60 books that I cleared out. I tossed all the ARCs (and there were lots), my sister took a few books, and the rest I'm trying to either sell, trade, or donate. The sad thing is that since I had my books double-stacked in the bookcase, it looks like I didn't really get rid of any because they all came from the back. This also means getting rid of a few signed books (sadface) because, signed or not, I'm trying to clear out everything that I don't see myself ever reading again (or that I don't really, really like). This means I even got rid of a Sarah Dessen novel.