August Book Haul

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I kinda have a little bit of a problem. No matter how hard I try, I can never buy just one book. Even if I go onto a website thinking "I'm only buying the book I came here for", I can't do it. One book becomes two, which then becomes at least four. With that being said. I went a little crazy last week and bought a bunch of books. Now, much like a dragon, I want to pour over my haul and excitedly try to decide what I should read.

The Dragon Reborn by Robert Jordan || Genre: Fantasy || Amazon / Bookshop

Blurb: The Wheel of Time turns and Ages come and go, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth returns again. In the Third Age, an Age of Prophecy, the World and Time themselves hang in the balance. What was, what will be, and what is, may yet fall under the Shadow.

Winter has stopped the war--almost--yet men are dying, calling out for the Dragon. But where is he? In the Heart of the Stone lies the next great test of the Dragon reborn.

Why I Want to Read It: I'm making my way through the Wheel of Time series, so it only makes sense that I bought the third book after I finished the second one. I'm excited to see where this story goes.

Batman The City of Owls by Scott Snyder || Genre: Comics || Amazon // Bookshop

Blurb: For over a century, the Court of Owls has ruled Gotham City in secret—their reach inescapable, their power unstoppable.

Until they battled the Batman.

Gotham's vigilante protector managed to escape the talons of the Court with his mind and body barely intact. The Dark Knight managed to win the battle with his deadly new aggressors, but certainly not the war. Batman was just the first part of their conquest. Now they have their sights set on something much bigger: Gotham City.


Why I Want to Read It: Let's be honest. Who couldn't use more Batman in their life?

The Shadows by Alex North || Genre: Thriller || Amazon // Bookshop

Blurb: You knew a teenager like Charlie Crabtree. A dark imagination, a sinister smile--always on the outside of the group. Some part of you suspected he might be capable of doing something awful. Twenty-five years ago, Crabtree did just that, committing a murder so shocking that it’s attracted that strange kind of infamy that only exists on the darkest corners of the internet--and inspired more than one copycat.

Paul Adams remembers the case all too well: Crabtree--and his victim--were Paul’s friends. Paul has slowly put his life back together. But now his mother, old and senile, has taken a turn for the worse. Though every inch of him resists, it is time to come home.

It's not long before things start to go wrong. Reading the news, Paul learns another copycat has struck. His mother is distressed, insistent that there's something in the house. And someone is following him. Which reminds him of the most unsettling thing about that awful day twenty-five years ago.

It wasn't just the murder.

It was the fact that afterward, Charlie Crabtree was never seen again...

Why I Want to Read It: I've been trying to get more into thrillers. A friend of mine who loves thrillers really recommended this author and I thought I might as well give his work a try.

Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan || Genre: Fantasy || Amazon // Bookshop

Blurb: Each year, eight beautiful girls are chosen as Paper Girls to serve the king. It's the highest honor they could hope for...and the most demeaning. This year, there's a ninth. And instead of paper, she's made of fire.

In this richly developed fantasy, Lei is a member of the Paper caste, the lowest and most persecuted class of people in Ikhara. She lives in a remote village with her father, where the decade-old trauma of watching her mother snatched by royal guards for an unknown fate still haunts her. Now, the guards are back and this time it's Lei they're after -- the girl with the golden eyes whose rumored beauty has piqued the king's interest.

Over weeks of training in the opulent but oppressive palace, Lei and eight other girls learns the skills and charm that befit a king's consort. There, she does the unthinkable -- she falls in love. Her forbidden romance becomes enmeshed with an explosive plot that threatens her world's entire way of life. Lei, still the wide-eyed country girl at heart, must decide how far she's willing to go for justice and revenge.


Why I Want to Read It: First of all, the cover is beautiful. Second, the blurb has me hooked and I want to know more.

Endless Apocalypse Short Stories || Genre: Science Fiction || Amazon // Bookshop

Blurb: Stories of the end of civilized life have always fascinated us, from the mythological world endings, Armageddon to Ragnorok, to the flood stories of across the Ancient world. They make us wonder what we would do if all around us came to an end: no transport, no fuel, no communications: a retreat into the desperation, the onslaught of disease, how would we survive?

Why I Want to Read It: This might be weird, but I like stories about the end of the world. Reading different authors' takes on the end of the world, and what might come after, has always appealed to me.

T-Rex Trying by Hugh Murphy || Genre: Humor || Amazon // Bookshop

Blurb: Poor T-Rex. It’s hard to be the Lizard King when you can’t even change a light bulb.

Drawn from Hugh Murphy’s wildly popular Tumblr feed of the same name, T-Rex Trying depicts the stubby-armed tyrant in a range of hilarious—yet pathos-inducing—activities that we humans take for granted.


Why I Want to Read It: This just looks cute and funny. Sometimes, I need a break from serious, hard-hitting things.

The Black Prism by Brent Weeks || Genre: Fantasy || Amazon // Bookshop

Blurb: Gavin Guile is the Prism, the most powerful man in the world. He is high priest and emperor, a man whose power, wit, and charm are all that preserves a tenuous peace. But Prisms never last, and Guile knows exactly how long he has left to live: Five years to achieve five impossible goals.

But when Guile discovers he has a son, born in a far kingdom after the war that put him in power, he must decide how much he's willing to pay to protect a secret that could tear his world apart.


Why I Want to Read It: The Lightbringer series has been on my list for a while. When I saw that it was on sale, I took that as a sign that I should buy it now and start reading the series.

A Girl Called Ari by P.J. Sky || Genre: Science Fiction || Amazon

Blurb: In a distant future… A world divided… A walled city in a devastated wasteland…

For Starla, a struggle for power becomes a struggle to survive when she finds herself on the wrong side of the wall. Lost in the wasteland, she faces warring factions, bloodthirsty creatures, and the endless burning sun. And then there’s Ari… who is she really? And can she trust this girl from the wasteland to lead her back to the city gates?

One thing’s for sure, Starla’s once privileged life will never be the same.


Why I Want to Read It: The premise sounds interesting. I've also been trying to read more science fiction recently and this book called to me for some reason.

The Orphanage of Gods by Helena Coggan || Genre: Fantasy || Amazon // Bookshop

Blurb: Twenty years ago, the humans came for their gods.

In the bloody revolution, gods were all but wiped out. Ever since, the children they left behind have been imprisoned in an orphanage, watched day and night by the ruthless Guard. Any who show signs of divine power vanish from their beds in the night, all knowledge of their existence denied.

No one has ever escaped the orphanage.

Until now.

Seventeen-year-old Hero is finally free - but at a terrible price. Her sister has been captured by the Guard and is being held in a prison in the northern sea. Hero desperately wants to get her back, and to escape the murderous Guardsmen hunting her down. But not all the gods are dead, and the ones waiting for Hero in the north have their own plans for her - ones that will change the world forever...

As she advances further and further into the unknown, Hero will need to decide: how far is she willing to go to do what needs to be done?

Why I Want to Read It: It's hard to beat a premise like "humans have deposed the gods". Adding in the other aspects of the plot shown in the blurb, I just couldn't resist.

Have you read any of these books? Would you recommend them? Are there any books you recently purchased that you'd recommend?

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My Professor Made Me Read It!

Back in November, I posted a discussion post called "My English Teacher Made Me Read It" where I discussed the books I had to read in middle school and high school as part of required reading. This post is a continuation of that one, discussing the books that were required reading when I was in college. As with the first post, I will be giving a brief, overall opinion of each book.

• The Great Gatsby- Yes, this book was also on the high school list. I also had to read it in college. Twice. I didn't like this book the first time. I didn't like it the second or third time. In fact, I'm pretty sure I liked it even less the second and third times. I don't understand why people think this book is so great.
• Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas- I actually really enjoyed this book. It was weird, and insane things happened. The plot was hard to follow at times (when it had a plot) but given what the story is about, that makes perfect sense. It kept me engaged because I wanted to see what else would happen.
• The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks- This book taught me more about the medical field than I ever intended to learn. It tells the story of Henrietta Lacks, as the title says, but it also tells the story of how the cell samples gathered from her body, the HeLa cells, have been used in research since they were first collected in 1951.
• Native Son- This book does a very good job of conveying the message the author is trying to send. While not the first or most well known book to discuss the topic of race and racial division in the early 20th century, it is one of the best that I've read.
• Sister Carrie- I didn't like this one at all. I reread it to see if I might've misjudged it. I didn't.
• Miss Lonelyhearts- The entire tone of this book is depressing and nihilistic, which is what the author was going for. I commend him for achieving that, but since I don't enjoy books that are flat-out depressing, I wouldn't recommend it. 
• The Glass Menagerie- This is a play by Tennessee Williams. Williams is known for plays with dysfunctional families. Reading his work is a bit like watching a trainwreck. While this doesn't have the most dysfunctional family he's ever written, the dynamics certainly are entertaining. 
• Invisible Man- This is not the H.G. Wells novel about a man who is actually invisible. This novel, written by Ralph Ellison, gets it's titled from how its main character is invisible in society. I don't remember much about this book to be honest, so I'd say it was okay.

And that's the list of books I had to read in college. I thought plenty of them were fine. There were a few duds and a few I didn't expect to like, but really enjoyed. 

Have you read any of the books mentioned above? What did you think about them?

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Anthologies That I Love

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I don't know if I've made this obvious on this blog yet, but I love anthologies. I love full-length novels, but there's also a special place in my heart for short story collections. So, I've decided to spread the love and discuss some of my favorite collections.


  
Wastelands and Wastelands 2 Edited by John Joseph Adams

Genre: Post-apocalyptic & Science Fiction

Synopsis (Goodreads): Famine, Death, War, and Pestilence - the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, the harbingers of Armageddon - these are our guides through the Wastelands.

From the Book of Revelation to The Road Warrior, from A Canticle for Leibowitz to The Road, storytellers have long imagined the end of the world, weaving eschatological tales of catastrophe, chaos, and calamity. In doing so, these visionary authors have addressed one of the most challenging and enduring themes of imaginative fiction: The nature of life in the aftermath of total societal collapse.

Gathering together the best post-apocalyptic literature of the last two decades from many of today's most renowned authors of speculative fiction - including George R. R. Martin, Gene Wolfe, Orson Scott Card, Carol Emshwiller, Jonathan Lethem, Octavia E. Butler, and Stephen King - Wastelands explores the scientific, psychological, and philosophical questions of what it means to remain human in the wake of Armageddon. Whether the end of the world comes through nuclear war, ecological disaster, or cosmological cataclysm, these are tales of survivors, in some cases struggling to rebuild the society that was, in others, merely surviving, scrounging for food in depopulated ruins and defending themselves against monsters, mutants, and marauders.

Wastelands delves into this bleak landscape, uncovering the raw human emotion and heart-pounding thrills at the genre's core.



The Year's Best Dark Fantasy & Horror Edited by Paula Guran. This is an annual release which started in 2010 and continues to today.

Genre: Fantasy & Horror

Synopsis (Goodreads):  The supernatural, the surreal, and the all-too real . . . tales of the dark. Such stories have always fascinated us, and modern authors carry on the disquieting traditions of the past while inventing imaginative new ways to unsettle us. Chosen from a wide variety of venues, these stories are as eclectic and varied as shadows. This volume of 2018's best dark fantasy and horror offers more than five hundred pages of tales from some of today's finest writers of the fantastique--sure to delight as well as disturb. 



Am I Blue?: Coming Out of the Silence Edited by Marion Dane Bauer

Genre: LGBT, Young Adult

Synopsis (Goodreads): Each of these stories is original, each is by a noted author for young adults, and each honestly portrays its subject and theme--growing up gay or lesbian, or with gay or lesbian parents or friends.



Places I Never Meant to Be: Original Stories by Censored Writers Edited by Judy Blume

Genre: Fiction

Synopsis (Goodreads): "What effect does [the climate of censorship] have on a writer?....It's chilling.
It's easy to become discouraged, to second-guess everything you write. There seemed to be no one to stand up to the censors....so I began to speak out about my experiences. And once I did, I found that I wasn't as alone as I'd thought."
-- from Judy Blume's introduction to Places I Never Meant to Be

Judy Blume is not alone: Many of today's most distinguished authors of books for young people have found their work censored or challenged. Eleven of them have contributed original stories to this collection. Along with a story written by the late Norma Klein when she was a student at Barnard College, they comprise a stunning literary achievement as well as a battle cry against censorship.



Firebirds: An Anthology of Original Fantasy and Science Fiction Edited by Sharyn November 

Genre: Fantasy & Science Fiction

Synopsis (Goodreads): Firebirds is more than simply an anthology -- it is a celebration of wonderful writing. It gathers together sixteen original stories by some of today's finest writers of fantasy and science fiction. Together, they have won virtually every major prize -- from the National Book Award to the World Fantasy Award to the Newbery Medal -- and have made best-seller lists worldwide. These authors, including Lloyd Alexander (The Chronicles of Prydain), Diana Wynne Jones (The Merlin Conspiracy), Garth Nix (The Abhorsen Trilogy), Patricia A. McKillip (Ombria in Shadow), Meredith Ann Pierce (The Darkangel Trilogy), and Nancy Farmer (The House of the Scorpion), each with his or her own inimitable style, tell stories that will entertain, provoke, startle, amuse, and resonate long after the last page has been turned.The writers featured in Firebirds all share a connection to Firebird Books, an imprint that is dedicated to publishing the best fantasy and science fiction for teenage and adult readers.



Toil and Trouble Edited By Tess Sharpe & Jessica Spotswood

Genre: Fantasy & Paranormal

Synopsis (Goodreads): Are you a good witch or a bad witch?

Glinda the Good Witch. Elphaba the Wicked Witch. Willow. Sabrina. Gemma Doyle. The Mayfair Witches. Ursula the Sea Witch. Morgan le Fey. The three weird sisters from Macbeth.

History tells us women accused of witchcraft were often outsiders: educated, independent, unmarried, unwilling to fall in line with traditional societal expectations.

Bold. Powerful. Rebellious.

A bruja’s traditional love spell has unexpected results. A witch’s healing hands begin to take life instead of giving it when she ignores her attraction to a fellow witch. In a terrifying future, women are captured by a cabal of men crying witchcraft and the one true witch among them must fight to free them all. In a desolate past, three orphaned sisters prophesize for a murderous king. Somewhere in the present, a teen girl just wants to kiss a boy without causing a hurricane.

From good witches to bad witches, to witches who are a bit of both, this is an anthology of diverse witchy tales from a collection of diverse, feminist authors. The collective strength of women working together—magically or mundanely--has long frightened society, to the point that women’s rights are challenged, legislated against, and denied all over the world. Toil & Trouble delves deep into the truly diverse mythology of witchcraft from many cultures and feminist points of view, to create modern and unique tales of witchery that have yet to be explored.



Geektastic: Stories from the Nerd Herd Edited by Holly Black & Cecil Castellucci

Genre: Fiction, Young Adult

Synopsis (Goodreads): Acclaimed authors Holly Black (Ironside) and Cecil Castellucci (Boy Proof) have united in geekdom to edit short stories from some of the best selling and most promising geeks in young adult literature: M.T. Anderson, Libba Bray, Cassandra Clare, John Green, Tracy Lynn, Cynthia and Greg Leitich Smith, David Levithan, Kelly Link, Barry Lyga, Wendy Mass, Garth Nix, Scott Westerfield, Lisa Yee, and Sara Zarr.

With illustrated interstitials from comic book artists Hope Larson and Bryan Lee
O'Malley, Geektastic covers all things geeky, from Klingons and Jedi Knights to fan fiction, theater geeks, and cosplayers. Whether you're a former, current, or future geek, or if you just want to get in touch with your inner geek, Geektastic will help you get your geek on!



Those are just a handful of anthologies that I love. Do you have any favorites? What's your opinion on anthologies?

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How I Rate Books

So, I've gotten a few comments and messages asking me why I rate books the way that I do. To be fair, it's a fair question. Some people see a rating of 3.7 at the end of a review, as opposed to 3.5 or 4.0 and wonder what exactly that means. Maybe my rating system only makes sense to me, but I thought I might as well talk about it.

Why I Rate Books This Way

I'm not going to lie. I rate books this way for mostly selfish reasons. Let's say there are 10 books I've given five stars to on Goodreads. If I only go by whole stars, or halves-of-stars, how will I know which one is my favorite? If it's been months since I've read some of those books, there's a chance that I might have forgotten how much I liked it. So, I rate books in smaller increments so that I can go back and know exactly which book was my favorite in a given month or year. Because, by definition, in a group of books, there has to be one that was my favorite and one that was my least favorite.

As I said, the ratings are mostly for my own sanity, but the system also helps me for Goodreads if I feel so-so about a book and can't decide if I should give it, say, 2.5 stars or 3. It helps me split the difference. 

How Ratings Are Determined

My system might be more complicated than it needs to be, but I'm a big believer in doing whatever works for you. This system works for me and I like it better than other methods I've tried so I've stuck with it. I have a rubric for every genre I read, because a thriller is obviously going to have different plot elements/tropes than say a fantasy novel or science fiction. There are also elements every book has, such as pacing, writing style and characterization. Every book starts out at 5 Stars and I deduct points from there for any serious criticisms I have and based on my overall enjoyment. As long as I finish the book, it gets at least 1 Star. Books I don't finish don't get reviews or scores.

I know that might sound negative, in that I'm not giving points for what I like but taking points away for what I dislike, but that's the method that's easiest for me. I tried doing the reverse, but it just didn't work very well for me. For some reason, it's a little easier for me to explain why I took points away than why I added them. Maybe my brain just works in a weird way

Anyway, that's the basics of how I rate books. I know I'm probably putting in more effort than is strictly necessary, but I actually like doing it this way. I'm weird and like talking about metrics and statistics. I blame the fact that I majored in math.

How do you rate books? What makes a book earn a certain star rating for you?

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In Defense of the DNF

I feel like both readers and authors take DNFs particularly hard. For those who don't know, "DNF" stands for "Did Not Finish" and if a reader DNFs a book, they started reading it and decided not to finish it. While I feel like readers and authors take DNFs hard, I can understand why. As a reader, you've chosen a book that you expected to like and it turned out not to be to your liking. It may feel like giving up. As an author, you've spent months or years working on a book only for someone to come out and say they didn't like it and didn't even finish it. Today, I'd like to share my perspective on DNFing a book and why I don't think it should necessarily be considered a bad thing.

I asked people on Twitter why they DNF'd the last book they chose not to finish. The majority said that they DNF'd the book because they simply weren't enjoying it. A few mentioned not having time, but most said they weren't enjoying the book and stopped reading to find a new selection. More often than not, that's the same reason why I've chosen not to finish a book. I love reading, I love books but not every book is going to fit every reader's tastes. It's unfair to the reader, and even more unfair to the book and the author, to be expected to finish a book the reader isn't enjoying. If I force myself to finish a book I don't enjoy and didn't want to keep reading, rather than just DNF it, when I go to rate it, as I do with every book I finish, it's not going to get higher than 2 stars, maximum. I don't think this is fair to the author when I might not be the book's intended audience. Or the novel might be one of my favorite genres, but I've decided I need a break from that genre. If I don't finish a book, I don't rate the book. Then, I continue on with my day.

Another important factor to consider, when discussing DNFing a book, is a reader's personal tastes pet peeves, and boundaries. This fits in somewhat with the above point, but I wanted to discuss separately. Some readers strongly dislike books written in the first person perspective; others love it. There are a few readers I know who started reading a specific book, realized they just really didn't like the first person POV and DNF'd it, even though they liked the story. Some readers don't enjoy novels written in vernacular language (a la Huck Finn) or with flowery language, and reach a point where they decide they have to stop. Sometimes, unfortunately, there is an issue with subject matter. Authors don't always provide information up front about a book's subject matter when it deals with heavier themes or topics, such as mental health, trauma and things of that nature. Readers may choose to DNF a book because they picked it up, not realizing it was going to be about such a heavy topic. Maybe they simply aren't in the right headspace to read it at that time. It's important to note that, in most cases, when a reader DNFs a book, they're basically saying "it's not you, it's me". The book hasn't "done" anything wrong.

There seems to be this unspoken assumption that if you DNF a book, that's the end-all, be-all for it. The reader is going to drop the book like a hot potato and never look back. That isn't necessarily the case. People change, their tastes change. If I DNF  a book today, I'm not barred from deciding to maybe give it another try in a year or two.

A book being DNF'd is an unavoidable part of that book being published. Just like how every book has at least one negative review, every book has at least one reader who elected not to finish reading it. It's just part of the process. On its surface, it's essentially a neutral thing, yet it's viewed as a negative. The stigma around DNFing books, or your book being DNF'd is undeserved in my opinion. It's unavoidable and better than the alternative: continuing to read a book you dislike and giving it a terrible, scathing and usually unwarranted review.

Do you DNF? What's your opinion about DNFing a book?

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April Book Haul

With everything going on, I've been doing a lot of reading. As a result, I've inevitably gone on more than one book-buying binge recently. Strangely, all of the books I purchased arrived on the same day, so I've decided to make a book haul post to show off my purchases.

(Please note, all book blurbs are copied from Goodreads.com)

And I Darken by Kiersten White || Genre: Fantasy

Blurb: No one expects a princess to be brutal. And Lada Dragwlya likes it that way. Ever since she and her gentle younger brother, Radu, were wrenched from their homeland of Wallachia and abandoned by their father to be raised in the Ottoman courts, Lada has known that being ruthless is the key to survival. She and Radu are doomed to act as pawns in a vicious game, an unseen sword hovering over their every move. For the lineage that makes them special also makes them targets. 

Lada despises the Ottomans and bides her time, planning her vengeance for the day when she can return to Wallachia and claim her birthright. Radu longs only for a place where he feels safe. And when they meet Mehmed, the defiant and lonely son of the sultan, Radu feels that he’s made a true friend—and Lada wonders if she’s finally found someone worthy of her passion. 

But Mehmed is heir to the very empire that Lada has sworn to fight against—and that Radu now considers home. Together, Lada, Radu, and Mehmed form a toxic triangle that strains the bonds of love and loyalty to the breaking point.

God Emperor of Dune by Frank Herbet || Genre: Science Fiction

Blurb: More than three thousand years have passed since the first events recorded in DUNE. Only one link survives with those tumultuous times: the grotesque figure of Leto Atreides, son of the prophet Paul Muad'Dib, and now the virtually immortal God Emperor of Dune. He alone understands the future, and he knows with a terrible certainty that the evolution of his race is at an end unless he can breed new qualities into his species. But to achieve his final victory, Leto Atreides must also bring about his own downfall.

Prelude to Extinction by Andreas Karpf || Genre: Science Fiction

Blurb: When Jack Harrison climbed down the short ladder from the airlock and stepped onto the debris covered soil, the ground crackled with the sound of dried leaves and twigs. Warm sunlight shined through his helmet, making him almost forget the decade he just spent captaining Earth’s first ship to another star system. The serene tropical surroundings, though, stood in stark contrast to the long abandoned structures that lay nearby.

Evidence points to a massacre – the systematic extermination of an alien colony hundreds of millennia ahead of humanity. Time, however, has erased any trace of the attackers. Jack and his crew barely start probing the ruins before their curiosity betrays them as an abandoned alien device cuts them off from their main ship. Lost and short on supplies, survival soon becomes their only goal. Even their short-lived rescue by an alien race, who themselves are under siege, offers little hope. As they struggle to find a way home, signs begin pointing to a danger darker than any they could have foreseen. Jack knows that playing it safe may no longer be an option – but his only other choice is to confront a threat that they don’t even begin to understand.

Batman Volume 1: The Court of Owls by Scott Snyder || Genre: Comics

Blurb: After a series of brutal murders rocks Gotham City, Batman begins to realize that perhaps these crimes go far deeper than appearances suggest. As the Caped Crusader begins to unravel this deadly mystery, he discovers a conspiracy going back to his youth and beyond to the origins of the city he's sworn to protect. Could the Court of Owls, once thought to be nothing more than an urban legend, be behind the crime and corruption? Or is Bruce Wayne losing his grip on sanity and falling prey to the pressures of his war on crime?

Superman, Volume 1: Son of Superman by Peter J. Tomasi || Genre: Comics

Blurb: After the stunning events of DC Universe: Rebirth, the world is left without Superman! Luckily, there is another Man of Steel to fill his shoes: the pre-Flashpoint Kal-El! However, can this new Superman protect the world while raising a super-son with his wife, Lois Lane? And should they help their boy use his new and rapidly increasing abilities, or hide them from the world?

Those are the books I bought during my book-buying sprees. I know it's not a huge haul, but it's more books than I've bought in a while, and I felt like sharing them.

Have you bought any new books recently? Any books you'd recommend?

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The TBR Book Tag

I was tagged by Krista over on The Bookish Hedgemom to do this tag. So, let's dig into my seemingly endless TBR pile.

HOW DO YOU KEEP TRACK OF YOUR TBR?

I have a spreadsheet which shows all the books I've bought, ARCs I've received and books I own but haven't read. Whenever a new book is purchased, it's added to the list. When a book is read, I move it to a separate column. I also use Goodreads, but I'm not as diligent about keeping the to-read shelf up to date, because it feels overwhelming.

IS YOUR TBR MOSTLY PRINT OR EBOOK?

Honestly, it's about 75/25. Most of my TBR are physical books, but I have quite a few eBooks on the list as well. 

HOW DO YOU DECIDE WHAT TO READ NEXT?

Every few weeks, I break out my calendar and plan for the next month. Obviously, adjustments are made if I'm not in the right mood to read a certain book, but for the most part, that's how I decided what's next.

A BOOK THAT'S BEEN ON YOUR TBR THE LONGEST?

The Witcher series. I have most of the books, and I've had them since before the Netflix series, but I just haven't gotten around to reading them yet.

A BOOK THAT YOU RECENTLY ADDED TO YOUR TBR

And I Darken by Kiersten White. In fact, it's so recent that I don't even have the book itself yet.

A BOOK THAT'S ON YOUR TBR BECAUSE OF THE BEAUTIFUL COVER

The Hollowed Gods by A.J. Vrana. The cover just looks so gorgeous to me.

A BOOK ON YOUR TBR THAT YOU NEVER ACTUALLY PLAN ON READING

While I want to say that I plan to read everything on my TBR, I'm pretty sure that I probably won't ever actually end up reading The Once and Future King

AN UNPUBLISHED BOOK ON YOUR TBR THAT YOU'RE EXCITED FOR



The Orphanage of Gods by Helena Coggan. This cover is gorgeous and the description makes me wish it was already June.

A BOOK ON YOUR TBR THAT EVERYONE HAD READ EXCEPT YOU

Blood Heir by Amelie Wen Zhao. I keep seeing it in everyone's tweets and bookstagram posts

A BOOK ON YOUR TBR THAT EVERYONE RECOMMENDS TO YOU.

This is a tie between Red, White and Royal Blue and the Six of Crows duology.

A BOOK ON YOUR TBR THAT YOU ARE DYING TO READ

Children of Virtue and Vengeance by Tomi Adeyemi. I loved Children of Blood and Bone and I can't wait to see where the story goes from there.

THE NUMBER OF BOOKS ON YOUR GOODREADS SHELF

16, but as I said on the first question, most of my TBR list isn't on Goodreads, because seeing too many things on the TBR shelf stresses me out. The actual number is around 40.


And that's the tag. I'm not good at tagging people in these things, because I never know who has/hasn't done the tag before. If this looks interesting to you, consider yourself tagged!

WWW Wednesday

Hello everyone! Today is Wednesday, which means it's time to do the three Ws. For those who don't know, the three Ws are:What did you recently finish reading? What are you currently reading? What are you reading next?

What I Recently Finished:

I recently finished Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman. While I didn't hate it, it wasn't exactly my cup of tea. My review can be found here.

I also finished Wonder Woman: Year One by Greg Rucka, Nicola Scott and Romulo Fajado Jr. Maybe this is an unpopular opinion, but I count comics and graphic novels as reading.

What I'm Currently Reading:
      

I'm currently reading Ubiety by Grzegorz Kunoski. I'm about 90% through it as I write this. My next read will be Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman, which I'll be starting either today or tomorrow.

What I'm reading next:

My next read will be After Alice by Gregory Maguire which is a retelling of Alice in Wonderland that I picked up because I enjoyed Maguire's more well-known novel, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West.

What are you guys reading right now? What are you planning on reading next? Let me know in the comments!

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Let's Talk About Romantic Subplots

So, romance, its a thing. Not only is it a genre in its own right, it's also a trait that a lot of stories share. High-fantasy can have romance. Mystery can have romance. Adventure can have romance. In any fictional genre, you can find romance. However, just because romance can fit into the story doesn't mean that it should be in the story. I'd like to discuss my thoughts on romance, more specifically romantic subplots. (If I was slightly more organized, this post might've been up right after Valentine's Day. but I wasn't, so it wasn't, so I'm talking about it now.)

First, let me just say that I don't have anything against romances in general. I'm not a huge fan of the genre, but I'm not going to tell an avid romance reader that they're wrong or have bad taste. You read what you want, and I'll read what I want. I've actually read books with great romances and relationships that I liked. And, I've also read some where the romantic subplot was boring, or felt unnecessary or took up too much of the book. Now, I think I can divide my negative opinions about romance and romantic subplots into three categories: overdone, unnecessary and just problematic.

Overdone
I know a lot of people love Romeo and Juliet but I'm not one of them. I'm tired of books being adaptations of the play. Some retellings have been done very well, but there's an over-saturation. I like star-crossed lovers just fine, but star-crossed lovers where one or both have to die in order for the story to stick with you? It's been done to death, and I hate it. If you want your romance to be broken up because there needs to be some type of sacrifice, it doesn't have to be death. Imprisonment, exile, and even plot devices like "if I ever see you again, the world will explode" make the two characters splitting up much more impactful than one or both characters dying.

Also in this category, love triangles. There doesn't need to be one in every YA series. If yo're going to write about Girl Character not being sure if she wants Boy A or Boy B, fine. But the "triangle" can't just be the fact that both boys like her and she doesn't want to choose. Show why she's torn between Boy A and Boy B and why she should and shouldn't chose each one. Also, please don't make Boy A a childhood friend and Boy B a handsome new kid, because we know what's going to happen there. The reason why I don't like love triangles is that, if the book is not categorized as strictly romance, it can rob the story of its impact. For an example, The Hunger Games is about overthrowing an oppressive regime that forces children to fight to the death, but too many people turned it into Peeta vs. Gale.

Unnecessary
As mentioned above, not every story requires a romantic subplot. And, even if there is romance in the story, it doesn't need to be a huge focus. My favorite book on Earth is The Hobbit. There is no romance in The Hobbit because the story doesn't need it. The Harry Potter series has romantic elements sprinkled throughout, but you could cut out, or skip past those scenes, and it doesn't effect the story.

I've read so many books where 2/3 of the way through, I was enjoying the book, and then all of the tension turned from "stop the bad guy", "solve the crime" etc to whether or not two characters would get together and the main plot was shunted to the back. That ruined those books for me. I would also put last minute coupling in this category. If the main conflict has been resolved, and the rest of the book is just Character A and Character B admitting their feelings, I don't really need it. Especially if, prior to the conversation where they admit their feelings, there's been no indication that either character felt anything stronger than friendship for the other.

Problematic
I know a lot of people cringe at the term problematic, but romances that fit in this category make me cringe, which is why I'm using it. Some of these tropes are fine, just not my taste, while others I find very troubling.

First, the "not my taste" ones. I hate the trope of male characters that are jerks to their own love interests. I don't mean ones where they butt heads at first, or don't like each other at the beginning but slowly get closer and dislike turns into friendship and then love, by the way. I mean ones where the guy is a huge jerk, he stays a huge jerk, but his love interest still wants to be with him. Or thinks she can change him. Or knows that he's actually just damaged and that makes him act this way. Not a good romance, actually really toxic and I don't like it. To a lesser extent, this includes the "I was mean to you as a kid because I had a crush on you" plot, because again, that doesn't excuse the behavior.  Insta-love is another one that I'm just not a fan of. If I'm going to be invested in a couple, I want to actually see their relationship develop, not just read "he saw her and knew she was the one. The end".

Now, to the romances that I think are very troubling. One: killing off one or both members of the only gay, lesbian or bisexual relationship in the story. If you do that, you brag about how representative your story is, because its not. In a similar vein, if you write a bisexual character and they end up with someone of the opposite gender, that doesn't make them straight, so don't treat it like it does. (Basically, write happy, healthy non-straight relationships, okay?) Two: romanticizing abuse. I shouldn't have to explain this but there are still people who think the Joker and Harley Quinn dynamic is "goals". Emotional abuse, physical abuse, manipulation, its not cute and it's not romantic. Lastly, relationships involving one adult and one character who is not an adult. We have a word for that, and it's not romantic. Some might argue this one saying that "Character A is 15 and Character B is 18-21, its not that bad". No, it is. Because the author chose to make the characters those ages. They could've both been in their 20s, or both been teenagers, but they chose to have one be an adult and one be underage. Maybe it wasn't intended to be predatory, but it easily comes across that way.


Romance when written well adds a layer to the story being told. Sometimes, that simply raises the stakes. In other scenarios, it brings about a form of character growth. The problems arise when romance isn't handle well. If it's shoehorned it, or it distracts from the main story being told, then I take issue with it. As I said earlier, I don't have a problem with romance in general, just it being misused.

The February Short List

Photo by Ed Robertson on Unsplash

The Short List is the list of books that I read in a given month, but for one reason or another, I didn't write a full review for. I still wanted to be able to talk about these books, and I've found that this format is the easiest way to do so.

The Devil In the White City by Erik Larson

Blurb: Two men, each handsome and unusually adept at his chosen work, embodied an element of the great dynamic that characterized America’s rush toward the twentieth century. The architect was Daniel Hudson Burnham, the fair’s brilliant director of works and the builder of many of the country’s most important structures, including the Flatiron Building in New York and Union Station in Washington, D.C. The murderer was Henry H. Holmes, a young doctor who, in a malign parody of the White City, built his “World’s Fair Hotel” just west of the fairgrounds—a torture palace complete with dissection table, gas chamber, and 3,000-degree crematorium. Burnham overcame tremendous obstacles and tragedies as he organized the talents of Frederick Law Olmsted, Charles McKim, Louis Sullivan, and others to transform swampy Jackson Park into the White City, while Holmes used the attraction of the great fair and his own satanic charms to lure scores of young women to their deaths. What makes the story all the more chilling is that Holmes really lived, walking the grounds of that dream city by the lake.

My Thoughts: This was a re-read for me, so the story wasn't able to surprise me. That being said, this feels like it's two separate books. One accounting the story behind the World's Fair in Chicago, and another about H.H. Holmes crimes as one of America's first serial killers. It's understandable why both stories could be told together, but they do feel a bit disconnected. The writing itself is good and Larson did an extensive amount of research, but this wasn't my favorite read. It's an interesting read, even if the two plots feel disjointed at times.

Gheist by Richard Mosses

Blurb: After losing a card game to Las Vegas gangster Danton, Kat McKay is kidnapped, her heart removed from her chest. Bizarrely, Kat wakes up with a newfound power: she can see the dead. Together with a motley crew of criminal ghosts, including mobster Clint, stage magician Melchior and hitman Jack The Knife, she sets on a quest to restore their freedom - and her heart. But who is worthy of her trust, and can she regain what was taken from her?

My Thoughts: This book has a great premise but not a good execution. From the description, I thought it would be more interesting than it was. The story was slow to start off, and even after the inciting incident, things moved slower than I would've liked. There was a great deal of focus on side character's backstories that I didn't feel were that important. I was expecting Ocean's Eleven, but with ghosts and instead, the story was a normal heist story with very little supernatural elements thrown in.

  

Crisis on Infinite Earths Giant #1 and Crisis on Infinite Earths Giant #2

Summary: Between December of 2019 and January of 2020, the CW's Arrowverse had its big crossover event, Crisis on Infinite Earth, which they've been building towards for six years. These two comics are a tie-in for that event, with two all new stories, and are also a reprint of some issues from the original Crisis on Infinite Earths event.

My Thoughts: I'm a big comic book fan. I'm also a big fan of Arrow. While I have some strong opinions about the "Crisis on Infinite Earths" television event, I did enjoy these two comics.



E=MC2: A Biography of the World's Most Famous Equation by David Bodanis

Summary: This book outlines the history of Einstein's famous formulation, which was overlooked when he released it in 1905, and delves into how groundbreaking such a simple equation has been, the discoveries made as a result of its application and what it means to our understanding of the universe and the future of said universe.

My Thoughts: This was a re-read for me. I first read this book in high school and remember thinking how cool it was that E=mc² led to such a diverse range of discoveries. Reading it now as a college graduate with a degree in math and having taken higher-level physics courses, I can fully both understand and enjoy the content of this book. It's an interesting read, especially for anyone with an interest in physics, and poses some thought-provoking questions towards the end.

Those were all of the books I completed in February but did not write a full review for. What are some books that you read this months? Any recommendations?

The January Short List

Photo by Ed Robertson on Unsplash

I know some of you might be reading this and thinking “the short list, what does that mean?”. Well, its pretty simple. I read a lot of books, but I don’t necessarily review all of them. This is for a variety of reasons. Sometimes there are books that I don’t feel strongly enough about to review, and for some it just doesn’t work. Sometimes, the book in question discusses a very niche topic or it’s one of those books that isn’t meant to be taken too seriously or analyzed. I’ve been thinking quite a bit about books like this, so I’ve decided to create The Short List, which gives me a chance to talk about these books without writing a full review. In order to preserve my own sanity, I will be posting these towards the end of every month.

With my explanation out of the way, let’s get into January’s Short List.

Is God a Mathematiician by Mario Livio

This is a non-fiction book written by an astrophysicist. The book examines the connection between mathematics, which is a collection of abstract concepts, and the physical world. It tried to answer the questions of how, if math is an entirely intangible concepts that humans invented, can it be used to so easily explain things in physical reality? For example, the work of  British mathematician who was well-known for his contribution to number theory (the study the properties of whole, positive numbers), was used decades later to make breakthroughs in cryptography. There’s also the matter of earlier individuals such as Pythagoras, Archimedes and Isaac Newton, whose discoveries in their time have wide applicability today. The book attempts to answers a simple question: did we discover math when learning about the world around us or did we invent math and it just so happens to explain so much about the world around us?

This book is on the Short List, because not many people I know personally would be interested in a book like this. I have a math degree. If I had the money, I’d probably be working on earning a Master’s degree in math right now. I found this book interesting, but not everyone will.

I Could Pee on This (And Other Poems by Cats) by Francesco Marciuliano

Yes, this is a book of poems. Yes, these poems are written from a cat’s perspective. It’s a little weird, but it’s a fun book with a creative premise. I bought it on a whim because the title made me laugh. It’s a short, cute, fun read and anyone that has or had cats should read it. There are lots of cute cats pictures inside as well.

What Will I Be? STEM Edition By Katie Greiner

I know you might be thinking, this is a kid’s book. Why did you read a kids book? Well, two reasons. One, I have somewhat of a connection to the author. While I’ve never met her, she and I are both alumnae of the same sorority, from different colleges, for women studying in technical fields. I wanted to support one of my sisters. Second I liked the message it was sending. 

There’s a stigma around women studying math, science and technology and I, for one, am tired of it. This book tells kids, especially girls, that they can be a doctor or an astronaut or a computer scientist and I like that message.

The Prose Edda

This is, no doubt, the oldest book I’ve ever read that’s not about the Trojan War. It was written in the 13^th century in Iceland. It’s one of the most well-known pieces of Scandinavian literature and our biggest source of information about Norse Mythology. Unlike its older relative, The Poetic Edda, it gives more detail into the myths it tells and it’s a little easier to understand, since The Poetic Edda is, as one might guess, a collection of poems. Given that The Prose Edda takes inspiration from The Poetic Edda, they’re sometimes referred to as the Younger Edda and the Elder Edda respectively.

As someone who, up until reading this, had only read Greek myths, the differences are quite fascinating. Every mythology has a creation myth, but very few have a detailed, soon-to-come destruction myth. I would advise anyone thinking of reading this, or anything derived from this book, to leave anything you learned from Marvel comics at the door, since they changed quite a bit.


Those were all of the books I completed in January but did not review. I know that this is a very varied list, but variety is the spice of life as they say. What are some books that you read this months? Any recommendations?

My English Teacher Made Me Read It!

Hello and happy Monday. This week, I decided not to post a review, because the book I’m currently reading in order to write a review is taking a little bit longer to finish than I planned. Instead, I’ve decided to do something new. I made a list of all of the books I was forced to read in middle/high school, and I’m going to quickly give just my general opinion of said books. I may do another version of this for college, but I haven’t decided yet.

• The Outsiders- When I read it in 7^th grade, I loved this book. I recently reread this one and I found it to be fairly average. It’s not bad, per se, but boring. There’s action, then a lot of nothing, then a little more action, and then the book ends.
• To Kill A Mockingbird- A fantastic book that covers a difficult topic. Everyone should read it at one point in their lives. The attempts to ban this book are ridiculous.
• Adventures of Huckleberry Finn- Like To Kill A Mockingbird, there have been attempts to ban this book for its use of the N-word, or to in the very least censor it to remove the word. Which is a big mistake. It’s a book that should be read, regardless of how uncomfortable the story may make some readers.  
• The Catcher in the Rye- Over-hyped in my opinion. I don’t know anyone older than 17 that seriously connects with this book. It does a great job hitting the pressure points of teen angst, but that’s about it.
• The Scarlet Letter- Hester Prynne deserves a Nobel Peace Prize for not snapping one day and killing everyone in that village for being an asshole.
• King Lear- My favorite of Shakespeare’s tragedies, although that’s not saying much.
• A Thousand Acres- A modernized retelling of King Lear where instead of being an actual king, the father is a farmer who owns a large tract of land. For the most part, it does a good job of translating the premise of King Lear but its even more boring than the play. There’s also an added plot element, to explain some of the rifts in the family, that isn’t handled very well and seems contrived.
• The Great Gatsby- I hate this book so much. It’s boring, I don’t understand why it’s considered one of the “great American novels”, and all of the characters are terrible people. Also, anything you have to say about symbolism usually begins and ends with talking about the stupid billboard with the eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleberg.
• The Odyssey- For a book of this length, and as old as the story is, it’s not half bad. It drags in places and gets formulaic, but it at least kept me mostly entertained.
• Beowulf- I really don’t know how I feel about this one. The story itself is pretty simple, and who doesn’t enjoy a story about killing random monsters.
• The Canterbury Tales- I only read parts of this book, but I’m including it. Shakespeare’s hard enough to understand as a high schooler. Chaucer is pretty much impossible. Also, most of the stories are pretty boring.
• Oedipus Rex- Given how Oedipus in known today mostly because of Freud’s nonsense about the Oedipus complex (and I could write an entire novel explaining how screwed up his reasoning there is), I was surprised that I actually felt bad for Oedipus. His story is tragic and for once, the ending of a tragedy makes sense to me. Also, this just goes to show that no one should ever trust an oracle.
• The Poisonwood Bible- This is the most boring book I’ve ever read. Every time I read it, I started to fall asleep. It takes forever for the story to get started, and once it does, I quickly became apathetic. I don’t care about missionaries being sad that they can’t convert people to their religion. Maybe showing up and telling people their belief system is wrong isn’t a smart move.
• Romeo and Juliet- I feel like I don’t have anything to say here that hasn’t already been said. It’s a tragedy because they’re young and dumb and their families both suck. I wish people would stop seeing their relationship as romantic, because that’s just…yikes.

So, there you have it. All of the book I remember being forced to read in English class. I’m sure there are some I’ve just forgotten (or repressed). I can see why these books are required reading in some cases. They’re useful for teaching certain literary concepts and studying things such as themes and figurative language. Just because they’re easy to teach, that doesn’t mean they’re good books, or interesting. As you could plainly see, I thought most of them were boring. Of all of the books I’ve mentioned, I don’t think there are any I would’ve chosen to read on my own.

What were some books you were forced to read and hated? Do you have any opinions on the books mentioned above?

Liebster Award Nomination

WHAT IS THE LIEBSTER AWARD?

The Liebster Award is a peer recognition award for up and coming bloggers, and the rules are as follows:

1)Thank the blogger who nominated you.

2)Answer the questions from the person who nominated you.

3)Nominate 5-11 bloggers who have less than 200 followers.

4)Tell your nominees through social media.

5)Ask 11 new questions for your nominees.

Millennial Book Review is on its third month now. It's an honor to be nominated for this award! I will use this nomination to support other new bloggers out there!

I'd like to thank Chocoviv at https://chocoviv.home.blog/ for nominating me for this award.

Chocoviv's Questions

Where did you last travel to?

Avon, North Carolina

Pumpkin spice latte or plain coffee?

Plain coffee, I'm a simple girl.

When did you start your blog?

End of July of 2019

Who is your favourite superhero?

Green Arrow, hands down.

If you could meet anyone famous, dead or alive, who would it be and why?

J.R.R. Tolkien (I am a nerd, I know that). And I'd want to thank him for writing such amazing works.

Savoury or sweet?

Sweet, definitely

What is the last book that you have read?

The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware

What is the last movie that you have watched?

Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse

Movie theatre or home theatre?

Home Theater

Favourite colour?

Royal blue.

Do you prefer to travel by plane or cruise ship?

Plane since I've never been on a cruise ship before.

My Nominees:

https://edilchristian.wordpress.com/

https://kariblogsonline.com/

https://inherthoughtszw.blogspot.com/

https://thedanishnomads.com/

https://nilyme.wordpress.com/



My Questions:

Chocolatey or Fruity?
If you could travel anywhere, where would it be and why?
Favorite movie of all time?
What's your favorite holiday?
If you were a superhero, what would your power be?
Favorite pasttime?
If you had to be dropped into one fictional world, which one would you choose?
Dogs or cats?
What's your secret talent?
What's one thing you've always wanted to learn how to do?
What trend do you wish would just go away?