All posts filed under: reading

Manners Can Kill

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Originally posted on Asha Seth:
Apparently, manners and I don’t get along well. Don’t look so surprised. Not yet. Save it up for what comes next. If you’ve been following this blog you’d already know that I have never been the best kid in the world. Blame the generation gap, blame me, and blame whoever you like. But that’s that. For one, I love to be left alone by which I mean I am the last person who would willingly invite or visit people, let alone be hospitable. And my parents have never been able to understand why. Usually, when I am supposed to meet visitors at home (which, by the way, I hate most), I do it for the sake of my parents and yeah, also because who later wants to go through endless hours of exhausting verbal tyranny of sorts. All the smiles, the greetings, if only the visitors knew how fake all of it was, they’d never again show up. Yeah, go ahead, call me an antisocial shrew. Now, the biggest problem…

How I use the 5-Star rating system on Goodreads

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Originally posted on The Fault in Our Blogs:
Most book reviewers believe in some way that rating all books on the same scale of 1 to 5 is messy. For example, what am I supposed to do when I just read a really good fantasy book that is nothing like any of the literary fiction picks that dominate my shelves? What do those five stars even MEAN? Why are there only five? Why is rating books even important? Over time I stopped putting 1 to 5 ratings on my blog reviews, because I think the definition of what those stars mean varies too much from person to person. What I use the star ratings for is very specific and probably doesn’t matter much to most of my readers. On goodreads, when you’re asked to give your review, you can mouse over the stars and see what each tier is supposed to mean: One star is “did not like it” Two stars is “it was ok” Three stars is “liked it” Four is “really liked it”…

Star Wars: Before the Awakening by Greg Rucka

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Originally posted on Rachael's Bookshelf:
RATING: 5/5 SYNOPSIS: The tales of Finn, Rey, and Poe in the days prior to the start of The Force Awakens. ? This book does a great job in helping to cement the things that you already thought about the characters after seeing the film and it also provides a nice backstory for Poe Dameron since we don’t see as much of him as we do Finn and Rey. In Finn’s story we get to see Stormtrooper training and really get into that whole hive mentality that keeps them all in check. I really enjoyed learning just a little bit more about the Stormtrooper teams and how they worked and I liked seeing them interact with each other outside of battle. I especially liked that we got to see some more of Captain Phasma and General Hux. I felt like I knew Phasma a little better after reading the section and I’m also more interested in Hux as a character. The relationship between Phasma and Finn was really interesting and I…

Book Review: Soundless by Richelle Mead

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Originally posted on The Fault in Our Blogs:
Soundless | Richelle Mead | On Sale Since Nov 10, 2015 Razorbill | 272 Pages | ARC Provided by Publisher Synopsis: For as long as Fei can remember, there has been no sound in her village, where rocky terrain and frequent avalanches prevent residents from self-sustaining. Fei and her people are at the mercy of a zipline that carries food up the treacherous cliffs from Beiguo, a mysterious faraway kingdom. ? When villagers begin to lose their sight, deliveries from the zipline shrink and many go hungry. Fei’s home, the people she loves, and her entire existence is plunged into crisis, under threat of darkness and starvation. ? But soon Fei is awoken in the night by a searing noise, and sound becomes her weapon. ? Richelle Mead takes readers on a triumphant journey from the peak of Fei’s jagged mountain village to the valley of Beiugo, where a startling truth and an unlikely romance will change her life forever… Review: Soundless reminded me of Indiana Jones…

#ReadWomen December

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Originally posted on The Fault in Our Blogs:
Greetings, everyone! So, I’ve decided to take part in #ReadWomen December. This is something I just found out about today, and am very excited about. The gist is that for a month, readers have decided to deck out their reading lists with female authors – some choosing to read female authors only for December, others vowing to include more women writers than they usually read. For more information, the twitter hashtag has been a great resource for me. So in honor of celebrating women’s voices, I thought I’d share some of my favorite books by female authors, as well as a few books on my own #ReadWomen reading list. Recommendations: Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins Lois Lane: Fallout by Gwenda Bond Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker The Glass Castle: A Memoir by…

Book Review: The Girl in The Spider’s Web

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Originally posted on BeulerBookReview:
Author: David Lagercrantz Genre: Crime Fiction Page #: ~400 Easy to Einstein (1-5) Scale: 3 Overlaps: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson/ The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins Many readers will wonder, when their eye catches this review, or when they amble past a shelf full of The Girl in the Spider’s Web, “How is this possible?” Stieg Larsson, the author of the internationally famous Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, did unfortunately pass in 2004. Upon his passing he had already written three of the books in the Millenium series. However, he had planned for this series to span ten books, and before he died he had been working furiously to finish the fourth book. A few years after Larsson’s death, his estate management team hand-picked an author to complete this fourth book. They selected David Lagercrantz, a Swedish journalist and author who has also worked as a crime reporter. Many were skeptical of this decision and remained staunch that no author could replicate the dark,…

LibraryReads: October 2015 List

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Originally posted on cup of tea with that book, please:
LibraryReads published next month’s LibraryReads List, a monthly list of top ten books recommended by librarians across the country. And I’m so excited that After You is one of the recommendations! Check out these new hot releases! (All links are from Goodreads) City On Fire by Garth Risk Hallberg (Available 10/13/2015) After You by Jojo Moyes (Available 9/29/2015) A Banquet of Consequences by Elizabeth George (Available 10/27/2015) Slade House by David Mitchell (Available 10/27/2015) The Heart Goes Last by Margaret Atwood (Available 9/29/2015) The Secret Chord by Geraldine Brooks (Available 10/6/2015) Welcome to Night Vale by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor (Available 10/20/2015) In Bitter Chill by Sarah Ward (Available 9/29/2015) Then Comes Marriage: United States v. Windsor and the Defeat of DOMA by Roberta Kaplan, Edie Windsor and Lisa Dickey (Available 10/5/2015) We Were Brothers: A Memoir by Barry Moser (Available 10/20/2015)

We Are Readers

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Originally posted on Scribbling Owlet:
Image Source: Flickr We are readers… There are chances you will spot us. In a park, on a bench. At the cafeteria, probably by a window.  In the tube/sub or at a quaint little street. On rooftops in the setting sun. On rooftops in the rising sun. In transit from one continent to another – airport lounges and mid air. At bookstores, catching a whiff. Fillings carts with books and filling lungs with the smell of books. In libraries, amidst our kith and kin – having lived similar lives, embarked on similar journeys through stories. We also hide books within books to let not the world know we are ‘UP TO SOMETHING‘. Strain eyes to read under sheets with a torch. Take our books everywhere. Even the loo. Raise your hand, if you are a reader too!