20 Books That Are On My Goodreads TBR the Longest

These are the 20 books that have been on my Goodreads TBR list the longest. I don’t think I need to give a run down on what each book is about since most of them are pretty popular. You might be wondering what the point of this post is then.

Well it is a way to hold myself accountable for the pile of books I physically own and haven’t read, and the habit of just adding things to my Goodreads shelves. Goodreads is a messy place to begin with– terrible design, user interface is fucking awful, and the consistent need I feel to add books to my want to read list is ridiculous.

I mean it is a great to keep track of my reading, but it also feels overwhelming to see the amount of books I haven’t read.

I picked these 20 because while there were others in-between some of these, they were ones I am no longer interested in, which means ONE day I will delete it off my Goodreads list, but today is NOT that day.

What I will be doing starting next month is putting the names of these books on a piece of paper, and throw them into a jar or most likely one of my many coffee mugs, and each month I will pick one out to read, two if I am feeling courageous.

ALL of these books sound interesting to me, and I want to be able to get to them. More and more books are being released, and I get some review copies so I keep pushing these back. Time to pick these up! I have physical copies of a few of them, and what I don’t have physical copies of I will check Scribd or Kobo store.

Anyway…I will keep you all posted on my little reading adventure!

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In Defense of Audiobooks

 

Audiobooks. 

They have become increasingly more popular in the last couple of years, and for some reason, people keep making ridiculous comments that when listening to an audiobook you’re not a real reader.

One: I am tired of the gatekeeper bullshit in the book community. Every day there seems to be a new stupid rule that means you’re somehow not a real reader.

Two: Audiobooks still mean you’re reading a book, even if it’s not what we always see as reading. It’s in the name, audioBOOKS.

Our Brains Process it the Same Way

YUP! You’re reading that correctly.

Whether you listen to an audiobook or sit down and read a physical copy, your brain is soaking it up in the same way.

A psychologist by the name Daniel Willingham, who wrote a book about the science of reading says, “The mental processes involved–there is no real difference listening to a book and reading it.” 

There you have it. Stick it in your juice box, and suck it!

Now you can stop saying that listening to an audiobook isn’t really reading because it’s total nonsense.

Also, you’re completely stomping all over people who need audiobooks because they physically can’t hold a book or possibly even see the words. I’ve heard the argument of “Yea, but I am not talking about people that need it.”

In my very humble opinion, the option to say nothing at all is also available, and dismissing people who need audiobooks, and honestly dismissing people who like audiobooks is just idiotic. It has no impact on your life, so just let people do what they want to do.

I was never a huge audiobook listener, but lately, that’s changed.

Mainly because I joined Scribd and that’s been a wonderful experience. I gave myself the challenge of reading War and Peace this year and I have been going back and forth between the audiobook and the physical book.

Now that science has clearly debunked the bullshit that listening to an audiobook is somehow not considered reading.

Can we stop being pretentious dicks to one another?

Cool.

 

 

Using SCRIBD

 

I read A LOT. I don’t think this comes as a surprise, but also last year I really got into listening to Audiobooks. I first did the Audible thing, and that was good, but I wanted to try something new this year.

That’s when I came across Scribd.

I signed up and received one month free, and I am loving it!

The way it works is every month you will get billed $8.99. And now you can listen to an unlimited amount of audiobooks and read an unlimited amount of ebooks!! It’s basically like Netflix for BOOKS!!! 

They used to have a credit system where you received 3 ebook credits and 1 audiobook credit. Then there were the unlimited library choices that didn’t require any credits. Usually, many new releases though required credits. NOT ANYMORE!! IT’S ALL UNLIMITED!! They got rid of the credit system and I am so excited!

I’ve found that this is really working out better for me than Audible. At least here I can also grab some ebooks.

It’s also been helping on my journey to read War and Peace. I’ve been going back and forth between my physical copy and the audiobook on Scribd. Which is great! I typically like using audiobooks for dense classics or Non-Fiction, and there are A LOT of options for both on Scribd.

I highly recommend you check Scribd out! If you use my link you can get up to 2 months for free, and in the interest of full disclosure, if you sign up I get one free month! Right now as I am in the midst of launching my own business that would really help me, and I would be forever grateful! I also just think it’s a great service. Their library has grown quite a lot, and they get new stuff all the time! Check it out! You can cancel at any time!

 

October 2016 Reading Wrap Up

Time for another monthly wrap up. October was a really great reading month for me. I sort of devoured quite a few books. I still have to write up a few full reviews, but I will give you a short run down of what I thought of each. So let’s begin.

My Lady Jane

This book made me laugh quite a bit. It’s a historical fiction novel that took it’s genre straight to heart. It’s exactly why I loved this book so much. If I read a historical FICTION book looking for historical facts, then I might as well read a textbook. Fiction means it’s all made up, and man is this made up! It takes the story of the nine day queen, Lady Jane Grey and just freely runs with it. There’s a magic element to the story, there’s humor. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and think if you’re looking for a fun read that this is it!

Rating: 

How it Went Down

How it Went Down was such a heart breaking read for me. It tells the story of the aftermath of when a young black man gets shot by a white man. It’s told from multiple points of view, and you get to know the story through the eyes of different witnesses, and friends and family. I wrote a full review for this book and I think it’s an important read that should be shared with so many people. Sometimes you need to step out of your little comfort zone, and learn something new. Read this book!!

Rating: 

Milk and Honey

This was a book of poetry. Powerfully worded, and moving poetry. I don’t know what else to say because this book spoke to me on a very deep level. Even if you typically do not read poetry, I still recommend this book.

Rating: 

The Princess Saves Herself in This One

Keeping with the theme of the previous book I mentioned, this was also a poetry book, but this one spoke to my very soul! It was just so amazing that I read it twice. I HIGHLY recommend it, and really think every woman should give it a glance at least once. This is another one that I don’t know how to explain why I loved it, because it touched my soul in a very deep and personal level.

Rating: 

Kindred Spirits

This was a lovely little novella by Rainbow Rowell. If you’re a fan of her novel FanGirl then I would say you would love this too. It was a fun quick read, and I enjoyed the main character’s mini fangirl adventure. It’s based around the premiere of the new Star Wars film, and how she’s one of three people waiting in line for the first showing at her local theater. I don’t want to go into much detail, but I had fun with it.

Rating: 

A Head Full of Ghosts

A Head Full of Ghosts was such a good creepy read!! It was the perfect October spooky read, but even though October is done, you should still pick this up if you’re in the mood to get scared. The story focuses on two sisters, and the older one is showing signs of possession, or is she? It was a wonderful mystery and many scenes left me wishing I hadn’t decided to read it before bed. Check it out!!

Rating: 

Rat Queens Vol.3

Rat Queens quickly became one of my favorite graphic novel series, but I held off reading this one because I saw that quite a few people seemed disappointed by Volume 3. Not to be swayed by the general public, I decided to finally pick it up and read it. Sadly I have to say it was my least favorite of the bunch. Not only has the art changed but I found the writing to be lacking. I still recommend this series, but volume 3 is just not the best one of the bunch.

Rating: 

Mockingbird Volume 1

I am constantly on the lookout for badass mother fuckers, especially of the female variety because well I find myself in those characters, also all females are pretty badass and I feel we need more female driven stories. The writer of this series took to Twitter to talk about her female driven comic, and then was harassed so bad by anti-feminist trolls that she left twitter. It was how I even discovered this comic series which Marvel cancelled before viewing the sales of the paperback edition. Well thanks to those anti-feminist trolls, the comic hit number one on Amazon for Marvel comics. Maybe Marvel will reconsider now? Maybe not. But we need these female driven stories!! Comics are not just for guys and any dude who thinks otherwise needs to get a reality check. I really enjoyed this series, and highly recommend it!! Maybe we can save it!

Rating: 

Black Butler Vol.1

I’ve been trying to read different Manga, and seeing which ones stick. I enjoyed this strange story. I read it in German, because simple language works best for me at this point, but I still thought it was fun and unique. I may pick up volume two this weekend! If you want to recommend any Manga, please comment down below!!

Rating: 

Alcatraz vs. The Evil Librarians

Honestly, I don’t know if I can eloquently explain how much I just did NOT like this book, so I will probably take a less than eloquent path. I started this series with high hopes. I love Middle grade adventure series and this just sounded like such a unique idea. The unique idea is why this isn’t getting one star, and that hurts to say because I typically adore Sanderson’s writing. This was just trying too hard to be something that it isn’t. I found myself rolling my eyes quite a few times. It was difficult not to make Harry Potter comparisons when the main kid was raised outside of the magical world he belongs to (orphan), and then you had a side character who was highly interested by ordinary items, but they still confused him (sounds like Arthur Weasley and his fascination with muggle items to me) Don’t know, it just felt somewhat forced storytelling after the first 30 pages, and I lost interest rather quickly. I will not continue with this series.

Rating: 

The Stranger Game

This book was sent to me the publisher, but this in no way impacts my views.

I want to write up a full review of this novel because it certainly deserves one. I think if you are looking for a mystery novel with twists and turns, then you will like this fast paced YA read. I read it in one day, and I have no regrets. I will be posting a more in depth review soon, spoiler free of course!

Rating: 

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone

Again? YES! Don’t judge me asshole!

I love this series, and recently bought the second illustrated edition. Was going to read it, and then thought to myself, “Well why not start a reread?” and so I did. It doesn’t take much convincing to read this series.

Rating: 

In total I read 12 items in the month of October. I am not sure how much I will get to read in November but I am only 8 books away from meeting my goodreads goal for the year. What did you read this month?

Aug./Sept. Reading Wrap Up

Man oh man, I really suck at writing up Wrap ups, but in my defense after I decided to start writing these up, my life sort of went on this downhill tumble for a minute. Things are looking up and I am finally getting back into the swing of things. I didn’t read as much as I would have liked this summer. In fact in the month of August (the month we moved) I only got around to reading Manga volumes. September was a little better, but the end of the month was a bit busy, so I didn’t get around to finishing a couple of books that I thought I would. Let’s begin!

August

Death Note Volumes 2-9

Oh Death Note, you started off so strong, and then I have no idea what the fuck happened. I really loved the dynamic in the beginning of this story. It was thrilling, and just well done, but the further into the story I got, the less I enjoyed it. It became such a convoluted mess that by the time I finished Volume 9 I decided not to continue the series. I googled how it ends, and felt satisfied doing so. It could have been done in such a better way, and I am still mad as hell at how they fucked it up so bad at the end.

Rating:  (average for the entire series)

September 

Warbreaker

Warbreaker was a great book!! Brandon Sanderson is becoming one of my top ten favorite writers, even though for some reason I wasn’t a huge fan of the Mistborn series, or at least not the first novel. I have enjoyed his other books a lot more so far. Warbreaker has a wonderful magic system, gorgeous world building, and the best characters. It was a bit slow paced compared to some of his other stories but I still thoroughly enjoyed it.

Rating: 

The Female of the Species

The Female of the Species took me by surprise. It was sent to me by Harper Collins INTL, and I wasn’t sure what to expect from it, but in the end I loved it so very much. It takes a very hard look at rape culture, and how females are perceived in these situations. It faces these hard topics head on, and takes you into a whirlwind of emotion. It’s an important read and I think many young women and MEN should be reading this novel.

Rating: 

Pottermore Short Stories

Oh you know by now anything Harry Potter and I have to get my hands on it instantly! These short story collections weren’t exactly anything particularly new as they all came from the Pottermore archives and info, but I never had the chance to fully read everything from the site so a lot of it was simply amazing for me to read. I love how expansive the wizarding world is, and how much information J.K. Rowling has for us. Some people keep bitching (including some authors out there) that if it wasn’t in the original series then it doesn’t count, but I say FUCK YOU to that bullshit. Here’s why: J.K. Rowling spent YEARS writing very detailed background information about each character, even the smallest of the small characters have some back story, and they’re her characters it’s her world and she can expand upon it, say whatever she wants about it and you can like it or you can shut it. People were mad about Dumbledore being gay,and how it was never included in the story but then wanted her to clearly state that Sirius was gay and when she said he was straight and crushed everyone’s fan fiction dreams, they got mad as well. Make up your minds, is she allowed to talk about her characters or not? Well, actually let me reiterate that SHE CAN DO WHAT SHE WANTS BECAUSE THE STORY IS HERS. I personally love all the things she adds to it, and I loved reading this three short ebooks. I am all about PROMOTING what I love, and IGNORING what I hate.

Rating: 

The Sea of Monsters

This is the second book in the original Percy Jackson series, and I have never read the full series. When I read the first book I actually wasn’t sure if I would continue on because I didn’t really love it. Then when I wanted to read the new Trials of Apollo book that was released, most fans said that I should Read this series, and the second series in the same world before jumping into that novel. So here I am trying to get through this series. I still don’t know how I feel about Percy Jackson. This book was more enjoyable than the first, but lacked something for me as well.

Rating: 

Orange: The Complete Collection Vol.1

I enjoyed this Manga. Orange has a bit of a Sci-Fi touch to it that makes the story really intriguing. There are really sweet moments, but also extremely sad moments as well. It certainly hooked me in instantly and I will hopefully read the second complete volume as well in October. It did lose a star because some aspects of the plot felt a little repetitive. I do recommend this one to any Manga lovers out there, or even anyone looking to get into Manga.

Rating: 

Cold-Forged Flame

This was a short story that I bought on my Kindle. It starts off pretty mysterious and it hooks you in rather quickly, but as a continued to read it, my interest began to wane. It’s a little over 100 pages long, and It felt rushed and almost a little bit pointless towards the end of the story. I would categorize it as fantasy. I have read Brennan’s work in the past and I think maybe I am not a fan of her writing style. It’s a quick read if you’re looking for something to entertain you on a short train trip or plane ride, and maybe you will enjoy it more than I did.  I just think that with a strong main character (which shall remain nameless since that is revealed way into the story) this could have been seriously fleshed out into a much bigger and better story.

Rating: 

So That is what I read the past couple of months. I think October in general will be a better reading month, as I now have a bit of a commute on the train to work, and can get some more reading time in during the day. I currently have My Lady Jane, More Happy than Not, How it went down, and a Head Full of Ghosts going, and should finish them all this month. Let me know what you read in September and if you read any of the things mentioned above! 🙂 I love to hear other points of view.

 

 

The Wrath and the Dawn – Book Review

The Wrath and the Dawn by Renée Ahdieh (I am glad this is a blog and not a youtube video, because I would butcher her last name, I am so sorry) was the first book I read from the books I chose from my summer reading challenge. It was a great first read and first choice. I have this fear now every time I decide to read a super hyped up Young Adult novel, that it will be disappointing but this one was surprising. It was actually worthy of all the hype.

This story is about Shahrzad (Shazi) who wants to take revenge on Khalid, the Caliph of Khorasan, why, you ask? Well quite simply, or not so simply put Khalid has married about 100 women, each dawn after the wedding, the women have been killed. The last one was Shazi’s best friend. This is when she volunteers to marry Khalid. She wants to be able to break the cycle of murder and innocent lives lost once and for all.

Khalid has his own secrets, and as you go through this book, you realize there’s so much more to the story.

This book is a retelling of 1001 nights, and the greatest thing of all is the beautiful descriptive language used, you practically feel like you are within the palace walls.

Here’s the surprising factor for me. I have mentioned before that I am quite tired of the romance and love triangles in young adult novels. Coming from a hopeless romantic that’s really saying something. The truth is though, that I LOVED the romance in this book. It’s not cheesy and it’s not lame. It shows real conflict of emotion and real feelings in the characters. You will fall in love with them, even the secondary characters, who were actually some of my favorites from all the books I have read.

I highly recommend this book. It pulled me in and did not let me go. I read it in a couple of days, probably could have finished it sooner if I had the time. Really go out to your local book store and buy it, buy it on your kindle, or head to your local library.

This one gets four out of five metal horns from me.

The Diviners – Book Review

Guys…Gals, I am about to get really hyped up about this. I am going to tell you what I think of this book, and I think very highly of this book. I read it so fast, and kept having a hard time putting it down. Let me tell you why, cuz why else would you read this review?

This story is about Evie O’Neil who gets shipped off to New York, for reasons you shall discover when you read it. (cuz ya will!!…probably…maybe.DO IT) She has to live with her uncle Will, who is absolutely obsessed with the occult. This is really where the fun begins, but even the opening of the story is pretty damn creepy.

The story takes place in 1926 and Evie gets mixed up in some occult and mysteries of her own. She has a supernatural power that she tries to keep a secret, but when a murder occurs and her uncle gets called to help with the investigation Evie gets thrown into a world of craziness.

The book is written in such a wonderful way that you feel that you’re being transported back in time. Some of the scenes in the book are so creepy that I actually had a moment where I didn’t want to walk to the bathroom in the middle of the night to pee. TMI…I know but seriously all the little shadows as I walked out of the room really creeped me out after reading this book.

I am really looking forward to the second book that comes out soon (August 25, 2015) and I hope it is just as creepy!!! I absolutely recommend this book!!!

This one gets 5 out of 5 metal horns from me!!