Wishlist Wednesday (21)

Wishlist Wednesday is a weekly Meme hosted at Pen to Paper

This week I'm wishing for...

Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell 

Summary from Goodreads:

"Set over the course of one school year in 1986, ELEANOR AND PARK is the story of two star-crossed misfits – smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try. When Eleanor meets Park, you’ll remember your own first love – and just how hard it pulled you under."

Why I'm Wishing for It:
Rainbow Rowell is a firm favourite in the blogosphere, and her books have been on my radar for a while, but I still haven't read one yet. Eleanor and Park, being her debut YA novel, is a must read. Plus, it helps that everyone is raving about it - this is definitely a must read!

What about you? What are you wishing for this week?

2013 Quarterly Challenge Update Post #3

This year I'm partipating in five reading challenges. So far I've managed the following...

                             28/30 read for the OTS Challenge
                             34/30 read for the ODY Challenge
                                     13/10 read for the EBC
                              11/12 read for the GVR Challenge
                            25/20+ read for the BSR Challenge

Would you look at that, I've reached the levels I was hoping to reach for three of my challenges. Since the ODY is all about reading more than you did that last year, I'm keeping that one open. Technically I've finished the EBC, and I don't think I'll read enough ebooks to reach the next level by the end of the year, but we'll see. And I've surpassed the highest level for the BSR! So close with the OTS and GVR - won't be long now

Here's a list of the books I've read over the past three months, and which challenges they count for: 

24. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky OTS, ODY, EBC
25. A Game of Thrones by George R.R Martin OTS, ODY, EBC, BSR
26. Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith OTS, ODY  
27. A Clash of Kings by George R.R Martin OTS, ODY, EBC, BSR
28. Days of Blood and Starlight by Laini Taylor ODY, BSR
29. The Help by Kathryn Stockett OTS, ODY, EBC, BSR
30. A is for Alibi by Sue Grafton OTS, ODY, EBC, GVR, BSR
31. Underworld by Meg Cabot ODY, BSR
32. Legend by Marie Lu OTS, ODY, BSR
33. Withering Tights by Louise Rennison ODY, BSR 
34. Wicked by Gregory Maguire OTS, ODY, EBC, BSR

Book Review: Wicked, The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West (The Wicked Years #1) by Gregory Maguire

Wicked, The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West (The Wicked Years #1) by Gregory Maguire
Release Date: 6th December 2000

Publisher: Harper Collins
Format: eBook
Pages: 406
Rating: DNF

This book was read as part of the 2013 ODY, 2013 OTS, 2013 EBC and 2013 BSR

Summary from Goodreads:

"In Baum's land of Oz, animals talk and strive to be treated like first-class citizens, Munchkinlanders seek the comfort of middle-class stability and the Tin Man becomes a victim of domestic violence. Green-skinned Elphaba, future Wicked Witch of the West, is smart, prickly and misunderstood; she challenges our preconceived notions about the nature of good and evil."

Review:
I thought I would enjoy this a lot more than I did. Anything and everything that includes a retelling, or reimagining, of a classic story or fairytale, is something that I'm bound to love. But, I just didn't love this. And I think the problem is, when you strip this back, and take away the fact that it's set in the Wonderful Land of Oz, and our main protagonist is Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, then what you end up with is a purely political book. And thats just not something I'm interested in.

I've wanted to read this for years, ever since I read one of Maguire's book way back when I was in high school. Seeing Wicked in the theatre only made me more interested, so when I acquired this one sometime last year, I added to to be TBR and was super excited to read it at some point this year. And now that I've read about 300 pages, I'm very disappointed. The fantabulous that I was expecting, probably because I expected it to follow the same plot as the musical, wasn't there. Instead I had a really political book, with our main character Elphaba fighting for animal rights. Which is all well and good, but this isn't the story I was looking for. I was looking for the forbidden romance between Elphaba and Fiyerio (which I did get, but it was cut waaaay to short), the warring between best friends Elphaba and Glinda, the downfall of Nessarose, Elphaba's preaching sister, destined to be the Wicked Witch of the East. Maybe if I had read further I would have gotten this - but with only 100 or so pages to go, its a bit late to be introducing these storylines.

I will give Maguire credit for taking a classic evil character and showing her in a new light. Elphaba was brought to be the Wicked Witch of the West through cirucmstance - her crusade for animal rights pitted her against the Wizard, painted as a dictator leader. I'm assuming the loss of her lover, Fiyerio, also pushed her onto this path. Since I didn't finish the novel, I don't really know, but everything Elphaba did seemed to make sense, given the context. Elphaba is a human, not just an evil character.

This is the first time that I've DNF-ed a book. I've always had the view of pushing through to the end, even if I wasn't enjoying the novel, because sometimes, the best things happen at the end. But as days crawled by where I didn't even touch this book, thoughts of putting this book down and picking something up eventually came. And with that, I picked up The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight. And I loved it. I flew through it in a couple of days, and so I thought of picking this one up again. But, I went for something else, and it's become apparent to me that I won't be picking this one up again.

Book Haul (2)

A couple of weeks ago I showcased the tonne of books I had recently bought. But wait....THERE'S MORE! At the beginning of the week I stumbled upon this online book sale where all the books were $3 - granted, their range was pretty small, but still, $3! So naturally I had a look and decided to buy these beauties, and they arrived in the mail the other day, so I thought I'd feature them here.

Grave Mercy by R.L LaFevers
This is one of those books that I see everywhere. Everyone seems to have read it, and loved it. This has been on my wishlist for a while now, so obviously when I saw I could grab it for $3, I snapped it up quick smart.  

The Circle by Sara Bergmark Elfgren & Mats Strandberg
This one intrigued me. Witches aren't something I read a lot about - I honestly can't remember the last book I read about them. This isn't one that I'd hear of before, but I checked it out on Goodreads, and people seemed to be enjoying it, for the most part. The synopsis was intriguing, and it was only $3, so I really couldn't resist. 

Carnival of Souls by Marissa Marr
I haven't read any of Marr's books yet, by the Wicked Lovely series has been on my wishlist for a while now. So when I saw this, I thought I might as well give it a go, see if Marr's style of writing and storytelling is for me. Plus, the synopsis sounded pretty cool.   

Have you read any of these? What did you think?

Wishlist Wednesday (20)

Wishlist Wednesday is a weekly Meme hosted at Pen to Paper

This week I'm wishing for...

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black 

Summary from Goodreads:

"Tana lives in a world where walled cities called Coldtowns exist. In them, quarantined monsters and humans mingle in a decadently bloody mix of predator and prey. The only problem is, once you pass through Coldtown’s gates, you can never leave.

One morning, after a perfectly ordinary party, Tana wakes up surrounded by corpses. The only other survivors of this massacre are her exasperatingly endearing ex-boyfriend, infected and on the edge, and a mysterious boy burdened with a terrible secret. Shaken and determined, Tana enters a race against the clock to save the three of them the only way she knows how: by going straight to the wicked, opulent heart of Coldtown itself."

Why I'm Wishing for It:
When this was first released I heard nothing but good things about it. Every review I saw for it was singing it's praises, and after reading the blurb, it's not hard to imagine why. I want to see what all the fuss is about!

What about you? What are you wishing for this week?

Let's Talk: Reading Put-Offs

Let's Talk is a weekly meme hosted by Melissa at i swim for oceans. Each week, there's a new topic to discuss. 

This week, let's talk about Reading Put-Offs.

Which books have you been putting off reading for a long time and why?

There are so many books that I put off reading. Shadow and Bone, Across the Universe, Delirium and Mila 2.0 have been sitting on my bookshelf for a couple of months now, even though I've heard great things about them and obviously want to read them at some point (hence why I bought them). But, for some reason or another, whenever I finish one book, it's a different book that I pick up to read next.

There are also heaps of series that I put off starting, for one reason or another. The Wicked Years series by Gregory Maguire is something I've been wanting to read for years, but I've only just now gotten around to reading book one. It was the same with the A Song of Ice and Fire series - I kept putting it off because the books are sooo long and I didn't think I had the time for them.

It's not that I put off books because I don't think I'll enjoy reading them - if I didn't think I'd enjoy reading them, I wouldn't add them to my TBR in the first place - it's just that there are soooooo many books out there to read. Its always a struggle to pick which book to read next because there are quite a few to choose from, and inevitably, some are going to keep getting pushed back because you've picked something else. Ahh, the struggles of the never ending TBR - so many books, so little time!

Posted on Let's Discuss hosted by The Fiction Conniption and Oh, Chrys! 

Wishlist Wednesday (19)

Wishlist Wednesday is a weekly Meme hosted at Pen to Paper

This week I'm wishing for...

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater 

Summary from Goodreads:

""There are only two reasons a non-seer would see a spirit on St. Mark's Eve," Neeve said. "Either you're his true love . . . or you killed him."

It is freezing in the churchyard, even before the dead arrive.

Every year, Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue herself never sees them-not until this year, when a boy emerges from the dark and speaks directly to her.
His name is Gansey, and Blue soon discovers that he is a rich student at Aglionby, the local private school. Blue has a policy of staying away from Aglionby boys. Known as Raven Boys, they can only mean trouble.But Blue is drawn to Gansey, in a way she can't entirely explain. He has it all-family money, good looks, devoted friends-but he's looking for much more than that. He is on a quest that has encompassed three other Raven Boys:"

Why I'm Wishing for It:
There was a lot of hype surrounding this one when it first came out. I'm not entirely sure why, but I just didn't take any notice of it, and even though I saw this book pop up around the blogosphere, I never actually read a review for it, or even the blurb I don't think. It's only over the past few days that I've seen it pop up again, and after some investigation, this book does sound rather interesting. Might as well give it a go!

What about you? What are you wishing for this week?