Musing Mondays (23)

Musing Mondays is a weekly Meme by Mizb @ Should Be Reading

This weeks musing asks...Tell us what book/s you recently bought for yourself or someone else, and why you chose that/those books.

I got another pre-order in the mail today! A couple of weeks ago I was on the Book Depository, eager to buy some books, and I noticed that a version of Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo, due to be released on the 7th May 2013, was only $8.52 - bargain! So I pre-ordered the book and today it turned up in the mail! I'm excited to start this series, considering all the great things I've heard about it.

What about you? What books/s have you recently bought?

Musing Mondays (22)

Musing Mondays is a weekly Meme by Mizb @ Should Be Reading

This weeks musing asks...Tell us what book/s you recently bought for yourself or someone else, and why you chose that/those books.

I got three new books in the mail this past week! After featuring Splintered by A.G Howard and Mila 2.0 by Debra Driza in Wishlist Wednesdays over the past couple of weeks, I decided just to get it over with and buy them both. And since I was buying books, I decided to also get Across the Universe by Beth Revis, because I thought it was about time that I read that book as well. 

What about you? What books/s have you recently bought?

Musing Mondays (21)

Musing Mondays is a weekly Meme by Mizb @ Should Be Reading

This weeks musing asks...Tell us what book/s you recently bought for yourself or someone else, and why you chose that/those books.

Just a couple of days ago I received a book I had pre-ordered in the post - The Mystery of Mercy Close by Marian Keyes. I've loved Marian Keyes for years now, and with this latest addition, I now own 10 of her novels. And, this will be the first Marian Keyes novel that I'll review on this blog, which I find exciting since I love these books so much! 

What about you? What books/s have you recently bought?

Musing Mondays (20)

Musing Mondays is a weekly Meme by Mizb @ Should Be Reading

This weeks musing asks...Tell us what book/s you recently bought for yourself or someone else, and why you chose that/those books.

Just a couple of days ago I bought Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi, the sequel to Shatter Me {review}. I read Shatter Me last year and I absolutely loved it, so it was only a matter of time before I got my hands on the sequel!

What about you? What books/s have you recently bought?

Musing Mondays (19)

Musing Mondays is a weekly Meme by Mizb @ Should Be Reading

This weeks musing asks...Do you have a bookish rant? Share it with us!
 

Last Friday I put up my review for Uglies, and it got me to thinking about annoying characters. And I don't just mean those characters you love to hate, but the one's that you just find irritating, bothersome and sometimes just infuriating. So today, for my bookish rant, I thought I'd rant about some characters that have seriously annoyed me of late. 




Lets start with Shay from Uglies, since she is the inspiration for this rant. Surely I'm not the only person who found her annoying. At first, I thought she was alright - a good friend for Tally to have. But that quickly wore off. The tantrum she threw about Tally and David was so petty and juvenile, that anything she did after just bugged me. 





Next, Sir Thomas from Newes from the Dead. This guy has stuck with me for a while, just because I found him so irritating. Being the closest thing to a bad guy in this novel, I get that we're not supposed to like him, but I think Hooper might have taken it a tad to far this time. Sir Thomas was sooo annoying I had to skip through any dialogue he had, I just couldn't read it. 




Delaney from Fracture. I don't think Delaney actually did anything in this book. I don't remember her taking any action, besides thinking that hooking up with her crazy stalker was a good idea, which, if you've read this book, you know was a very, very bad idea. 






Lastly, everyone in The Carrier of the Mark. Literally every single character in this novel annoyed me in some way or another. Only now looking back on the book do I realise how much they all annoyed me. Especially our leads Megan and Adam, who suffer from an extreme case of insta-love. Maybe these characters suffered with a complicated back story that required lots of info dumps and a convoluted plot, either way, I didn't like them.

Right I think that's enough ranting for one day. What about you? Are there any characters that really bother/annoy/irritate you? 

Musing Mondays (18)

Musing Mondays is a weekly Meme by Mizb @ Should Be Reading

This weeks musing asks...Tell us what book(s) you recently bought for yourself/someone else, and why you chose that/those books.
 

I actually received a book I pre-ordered last year just a couple of days ago - Underworld by Meg Cabot. I read Abandon, the first novel in this series, late last year and I absolutely loved it, so last year at Christmas when I got some money from family and decided to use a portion to buy some books, I pre-ordered Underworld. I really hope this is a good follow-up to Abandon - I really enjoyed the twist on the Persephone and Hades myth, and where the second book was heading was established pretty well at the end of book one - it'll be interesting to see how it goes. 


What about you? Do you have any exciting pre-orders that you're anticipating the release of?

Musing Mondays (17)

Musing Mondays is a weekly Meme by Mizb @ Should Be Reading

This weeks musing asks...Describe one of your reading habits.
 

One of the things I always tend to do when I pick up a new book is quickly flip to the back. Mostly I do this to see how long the book is, so I can gauge how long it will take me to read it. I can be put off by books that are over 500 pages long, and I'm more likely to leave those till when I'm on holidays, rather than tackle it during semester. What I used to always do was also quickly scan the last few sentences of the book. I have no idea what would possess me to do that - waaay too much potential of ruining the book (in fact I think I did ruin a book or two by reading the last few sentences) - luckingly I've broken out of that habit!

What about you? Do you jump to the end of a book before you start reading it?

Musing Mondays (16)

Musing Mondays is a weekly Meme by Mizb @ Should Be Reading

This weeks musing asks...Do you have a bookish rant? Share it with us!
 

There are probably many things I can rant on about to do with books, but today I'm going to stick with something that doesn't happen to me often, but when it does, it just ruins it for me. People spoiling the book. I just don't understand why you would do that! If it's an honest mistake, or something very minor, then I can probably forgive you, but if you give away the entire ending, expect to get an evil stare from me. The whole reason I am reading the book is to find things out as I go, to get to be surprised when the surprising things happen. Honestly, if someone gives me a massive spoiler, then what even is the point of continuing to read the book?! I now know how its going to end, and I have many other books I don't know the plot to that I could be reading, so I think to myself, why am I even bothering? Luckily, books don't get spoiled for me that often :D

What about you? Do books get spoiled for you often? Or do you spoil books for others?

Musing Mondays (15)

Musing Mondays is a weekly Meme by Mizb @ Should Be Reading

This weeks musing asks...Describe one of your reading habits. 

One thing I always do when I bring a new book home is immediately find a spot for it on my bookshelf. I'm a bit OCD about my bookshelf - I have specific shelves where I put my favourite books and series, and my books have to be in height order. So, when I buy a new book, I usually need to move some things around in order to find just the right spot for it. And then when new books arrive, I go through the process again, and books might need to be shuffled around some more - arranging my bookshelf is a never ending job! 

What about you? Do you have any interesting book habits?

Musing Mondays (14)

Musing Mondays is a weekly Meme by Mizb @ Should Be Reading

This weeks musing asks...Tell us what you're reading right now - what you think of it so far; why you chose it; what you are (or aren't) enjoying about it. 

I'm currently reading Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor, and oh my lord it is good. I'm reading it as part of the Off the Shelf Challenge, and I can't believe I left this goody sitting on my shelf for a good 6 months or so. I'm really enjoying that this book is able to surprise me - I find a lot now-a-days that stories can be too predictable for me, but this one definitely isn't.

What about you? What are you currently reading?

Musing Mondays (13)

Musing Mondays is a weekly Meme by Mizb @ Should Be Reading

This weeks musing asks...Tell us what book(s) you recently bought for yourself or someone else, and why you chose that/those book(s). 

For Christmas, my mum bought me The Evolution of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin, because she didn't know what to get me and I told her to get me this. So, technically I didn't buy it myself, but I got someone else to buy it for me, so that still counts..right?

What about you? What books have you gotten recently?

Musing Mondays (12)

Musing Mondays is a weekly Meme by Mizb @ Should Be Reading

This weeks musing asks...Is there a particular book that is your nemesis - the book you're determined to one day finish?

I don't usually start books and then not finish them, but rather, I put books on my TBR lists/piles, and then just leave them there. Game of Thrones is the one that comes immediately to mind, since I have a lot of the books in this series, but still haven't even glanced at the first novel. City of Bones is always constantly staring at me from it's place on my bookshelf. I will get around to these books one day (hopefully soon)!

What about you? Do you have this problem?

Musing Mondays (11)

Musing Mondays is a weekly Meme by Mizb @ Should Be Reading

This weeks musing asks...What was the last book that you could not finish and why?

Generally I'll finish every book that I start reading. Mostly this is because I'll choose the read books that I think I'll enjoy, or a book I've heard good things about on the blogosphere or through friends. Even if I'm not enjoying a book that much, I'll probably read through to the end just to finish the story, hoping that maybe somewhere towards the end something spectacular will happen to save the book. The only book I can think of that I started and didn't finish was The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery. I had heard good things about this book, but I guess I just didn't get it. It was confusing, I wasn't entirely sure what was happening all the time, and I just decided to give up about 70 pages in. I've still got in on my bookshelf, so maybe I'll go back to it in a couple of years and try again.

What about you? Do you ever start a book but find that you just can't finish it?

MEGA Musing Mondays (10)

Musing Mondays is a weekly Meme by Mizb @ Should Be Reading

Musing Monday's is one of my fave weekly memes to participate in, and since I've been away from the blog for a while, I thought I might answer some of the questions that I've missed out on!

Have you ever read a book after watching the movie/television version only to find that you don't like the book as much as the adaptation?
I'm one of those terrible people who doesn't read the books movies/television series are based on. In my mind, if I've seen the movie version, then that's enough, but, strangely, if I've read the book, then I simply must see the movie. Honestly, this doesn't even make any sense.

Do you read the ending before you start a book? Do you ever skip ahead to read the ending?
I used to be a repeat offender of this, but luckily I've broken the habit. Skipping to the end of the book just defeats the whole purpose!

If you had to choose only 3 books to read forever, which ones would you choose?
Oooooohhhhhhh tough question. It's hard to imagine just reading and re-reading three books for the rest of eternity. But, I would have to say that I think if I had Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins, The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin and a Sherlock Holmes compilation book, then I would probably be happy.

Do you ever get crushes on fictional characters? Name one (or a few) and tell what you liked...
Who doesn't? Most recently I think it was Peeta from The Hunger Games series. I also remember a time when my sights were set on Edward Cullen (it was a long time ago..)

Do you have a fave series? Do you have a fave book out of the series?
I would probably have to say that the Confessions of Georgia Nicolson series is one of my fave series. I read them years ago, and they're quite an easy read. Not only that, but they are absolutely hilarious - choosing just one book from the series as a stand-out is impossible!

What distracts you when you really "should be reading"?
At the moment, it's uni work. Assignments, tests and reports all just pile up on top of me, and coupled with being a lazy person, this just doesn't bode well for my reading. 

What is your least favourite book? Why?
I'm going to assume that this question is referring to books I don't like. In that case, to this day, I maintain that The Wind Singer by William Nicholson (which I was made to read in year 6) and The Giver by Lois Lowry (year 7) are the worst books that I have ever read. Maybe it was because I was forced to analyse them in English class, or maybe I wasn't as big a reader back in year 6 and 7, but I vividly remember that I hated those books. I don't even remember why, but I've remembered the names of these books to this day, and I hardly remember the books I read this year, let alone ones I read 6 or more years ago!

Have you ever considering writing a book before? What genre would you write?
There was a time in my life (a long time ago) that I thought I could be an author. My reasoning was that I liked to read, therefore I could write (I was horribly wrong on that front). The last time I thought about writing a book, I planned a romance centred on teenagers, so I guess I would write young adult fiction.

Musing Mondays (9)

Musing Mondays is a weekly Meme by Mizb @ Should Be Reading

This weeks musing asks... When you're stuck for a book to read next, what do you do?
Gotta be honest, this doesn't really happen to me. It tends to be that for every book I read, I find 5 others to add to my reading list, so my list ends up very, very long. For me, its more a matter of deciding which book to read next. Sometimes I'll have a couple of books at one given time that I want to read, so it's always a matter of which one do I choose!
What about you? What's your fail-proof plan for when/if you get stuck for a book to read next?

Musing Monday (8)

Musing Mondays is a weekly Meme by Mizb @ Should Be Reading

This weeks musing asks... Do you listen to audiobooks? If not, why not? and if so, what has been one of your favourites, so far?
I don't actually listen to audiobooks because I know that I won't be able to concentrate on the story if I listen to it. When I'm reading a book, I have to concentrate on the physical pages and words, and actually absorb the story. I just know that if I listen to an audiobook, my mind will wander and I won't absorb that story as well, which means I'll having to listen to that same chapters over and over again, and I just don't have the patience for that!
What about you? Do you listen to audiobooks?

Musing Mondays (7)

Musing Mondays is a weekly Meme by Mizb @ Should Be Reading

This weeks musing asks... What do you think are the top 5 books every woman should read?

This is a hard and interesting question to answer. BUT, I have come up with 5 books that I think women should read.

1. Any Marian Keyes novel. I actually love this woman. There probably isn't anything spectacular about her novels, but I can't seem to stop reading them - every new novel released, I just have to have! Some of my favourites by her include Rachel's Holiday, Sushi for Beginners, Last Chance Saloon and This Charming Man.





2. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. I loved this book so much when I read it last year - this is one of those books that everybody has to read
3. Juliet by Anne Fortier. Again, I loved this book when I read it last year. What I think I enjoyed the most about it was that is surprised me - it was completely different, and infinitely better, than I thought it would be.




4. The Time Traveller's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. This has to be the best romance novel I have ever read - it's just so good on so many levels!
5.  Any of the Harry Potter novels. I've only read one Harry Potter novel (The Deathly Hallows) but I have to say, it is one of the best books I have ever read. J.K.Rowling really immerses you in the Harry Potter world - the attention to detail was amazing.