TBC Challenge January Recap

So this month wasn't very good for my fun reading. I finished 3 books, Death Cure, Down & Derby and Uglies. I have been busy with school starting and trying to get my internship underway. Hopefully next month will be better.

Down & Derby Review

I finished this book weeks ago and haven't had the chance to review it with school starting and little time to do anything else. If you didn't know I am a fan of roller derby. I want to play roller derby, but I am not a good skater nor do I have the time for it right now. Though I do hope to practice my skating skills and be able to join a league. So this book as a must read to get my prepared and what I need to know before joining.

Synopsis: Basically, this book is the know all for anyone who loves derby, wants to play derby, and those who just want to know what it's all about. The books gives you the history of roller derby, the basics of the game, how to start and resources.

Review: I have been a fan of roller derby for a few years and have been going to local bouts here in Phoenix. I have wanted to play roller derby, but lack of skating skills kept me away. I finally bought my own skates and gear and have been wanting to start relearning how to skate and get into shape.

This book did a great job talking about the progression of the sport and balancing out between flat track and banked track roller derby. They gave a great chapter on whether yo have the time to do derby and other things you need to think about before wasting your time and others on dropping out. I gave a nice list of what you would need and what you can do to get involved even if you cannot commit to skating.

I gave this book 5 stars because it was a very well put together book and gave me a lot to think about.

My Rating:

Top Ten Tuesday:Top Ten Authors I Wish Would Write Another Book

Top Ten Tuesdays is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

This week's top ten is the top ten authors you wish would write another book living or deceased.

So I am not 100% sure on this one, but I am going to give it a try. I only been reading for fun for a year now and I am sure there are many more authors I could list after reading some more. Also, I am not up to speed with who is writing right now and who is done of those who are a live so if my answers don't fit I'm not to blame.

10. Elizabeth Kostova writer of The Historian and The Swan Thieves. While it took some time for me to enjoy The Historian I loved the Swan Thieves. Her writing of mystery and history are just amazing. I hope she has more books planned. I think there was many years in between these two books.

9. Tess Gerristen writter of the Rizzoli & Isles series. I am still on the fence with whether I like this series, I wish she would write more books for it because there aren't too many and if I get a chance to read up on all of them I'll probably be wanting more.

8. J.K. Rowling writer of Harry Potter. I enjoyed her books. I wasn't in love with them like I am with other series, but they were fun and interesting books. Hoping she can write more books that will be as good as Harry Potter.

7. James Dasher writer of The Maze Runner Series. I know he has another series out that I have not look into, but I hope he has more dystopian books in the future. The way he wrote the Maze Runner books was just so amazing and I wanted to see more about the world he created.


6. Jeffery Chaucer writer of Canterbury Tales. Yes, he's written other stuff that I have not read, but in high school I feel in love with this book and even read it in the old english language... there was a time I wanted to be a high school English teacher... So I would love to read other books buy him written today.

5. Louisa May Alcott writter of Little Women. One of my all time favorite books and we share the same birthday November 29th. I know she wrote a others, but I would love to see more and I probably should read her other books.

4. The Grimm Brothers. I think their stories are amazing and we still tell our children similar stories to scare them or make them behave. I think if they wrote more stories today I would just LOVE them.

3. Suzanne Collins writer of The Hunger Games Trilogy. I loved this series and I would love to see her write another dystopian series. She made me realized how much I love this genre and had made me look for more books.

2. Kathy Reichs write of the Temperance Brennan series. I believe she's actually working on the next book for this series, but I still want more. I love this series and hope she continues it for a long time.

1. Steig Larson write of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo Series. I went to look to see what else he was writing after finished this series and was sad to see that he died in 2004.  I think if he was still alive today he would write more great books.






WOW!! I actually came up with 10. Some a sort of cop-outs since I may not have read everything they have written, but still this is a pretty solid list.

Musing Mondays #12 Raved Reads

Musing Mondays is a weekly event hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading. Each week MizB asks a book related question and bloggers answer with their thoughts about the given topic. This week's musings asks:

Are there any “raved reads” – books that everyone seems to be talking about– that you’re hoping to get read this year yourself? What books are they and why are you hoping to read them? Is it because you want to say you’ve read it? Or, would you have chosen to read it, even if you’d discovered it yourself, and no one was raving about it?

This is a really good question, but there as so many books I could list for this. A lot of the YA dystopian novels would fall under this. I am not so sure I really pay attention to what books people are raving about. There are a lot of books that fall under the paranormal romance that I have been seeing people rave about that I haven't jumped to get a copy. Though some after people have been talking about I have started to try to get samples of the book on my Kindle to see if I would enjoy it.

So books that I have to read this year that everyone has been raving about enough to get me to pick them up are Divergent, Enclave, The Forests of Hands and Teeth, and Uglies (which I just finished). I am sure there are more to list if I went through my GoodReads list, but I am not going to do that. All of these books I either was hooked due to reading the synopsis and then all the raves or visa versa. I think on all of these books if I hadn't read everyone raving about them and I just read the synopsis I still would want to read them.

Uglies Book Review

Imagine if we lived in a world where everyone was ugly until they were 16 and then you became pretty. That is the question in this book by Scott Westerfeld. We are so concerned with looks that what if in our future we could make everyone the same so no one would be made fun of for not being pretty enough.

Synopsis: Everybody gets to be supermodel gorgeous. What could be wrong with that? Tally is about to turn sixteen, and she can't wait. Not for her license -- for turning pretty. In Tally's world, your sixteenth birthday brings an operation that turns you from a repellent ugly into a stunningly attractive pretty and catapults you into a high-tech paradise where your only job is to have a really great time. In just a few weeks Tally will be there.
But Tally's new friend Shay isn't sure she wants to be pretty. She'd rather risk life on the outside. When Shay runs away, Tally learns about a whole new side of the pretty world and it isn't very pretty. The authorities offer Tally the worst choice she can imagine: find her friend and turn her in, or never turn pretty at all. The choice Tally makes changes her world forever. (Taken from GoodReads)


Review: I have been wanting to read this book ever since I read the synopsis of it. No I am not a teen or a woman with too much body image problems, but I wanted to see how this book was written. It sounded very interesting and it is. I was hooked on the book as soon as I started to read it. What I really like what the two completely different worlds Westerfeld created for this book, those who lived in the city and those who lived outside it. It was done nicely.

I also liked that while the underlining theme was how being pretty can be dangerous and not the best was not in your face. I wasn't sure if it was going to be thrown down my throat, but it wasn't. It was a fun read that kept me entertained. I want to read the rest of the series since the book was written so well and it ends with a cliff hanger.

I gave the book 5 stars because of how well it is written and how much I enjoyed reading it.

Rating:

In My Mailbox

This is a weekly event hosted by The Story Siren.

I promised I wasn't going to buy anymore books after I bought Divergent and The Death Cure, but I just couldn't help it. I sold some books to Amazon got some story credit with them, and I found a few books I was having trouble getting my hands on so I gave in, plus school started on Thursday and I had to buy my text books.

After some how seeing the trailer for this movie on GoodReads and decided to look into this book. I was at Target buying... I don't even remember, but I saw the book and it was a decent price. So I gave in a bought it.

I found this book on someone's profile on GoodReads and after seeing mystery and Ireland I knew I needed to get this book. I was at Target for a different trip and day and I happen to see this book there. Again had to pick it up in case I had trouble finding it again.

Believe it or not, this is not a book for fun... it's for my statistics class I am required to take. Looks like I am in for a challenging semester...

Another textbook, but this one will hopefully be much better in terms of enjoyment.

Yes, I finally got this book on my shelf. I have credit over at Amazon and knew this was one of the books that I had to pick up. I have been wanting this book for a while now and was going to pick it up at B&N, but when I went there, they were all sold out.

Another book I have been wanting to get my hands on. Though I liked the cover that is black with what looks like a red flower better than this one. This cover looks... like nothing I would ever reads. Again, used my credit over at Amazon to get it since I never seem to find it in stores.





There's all my new books, that I probably won't have time to read, but really hope I can.

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I'm Excited to Read in 2012

This weekly event is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish


Top Ten Books I'm Excited To Read in 2012


Well this list could be long... if I didn't have to limit it to ten. I have a huge to be read list on GoodReads and books piling up on my bookshelf. I need to rearrange my bookshelf so my books can fit on it with out being creative on how I put my books on the shelf. 

10. The Last Gunfight by Jeff Guinn. I bought this book last year when I was still a history major and my research topic was on Tombstone and the wives of Wyatt Earp and Doc Holiday. I still want to read it even though I am no longer a history major. 

9. Irish Americans by Jay P. Dolan. It's not secret that I am proud of my Irish heritage and I am looking forward to learning more about those, who like my family immigrated to America from Ireland. 

8. Betsy Ross and the Making of America by Marla R. Miller. Another history book I bought because it sounds very interesting. There seems to be little known about Betsy Ross and her importance to the US.

7. Lost Symbol by Dan Brown. I love the other two books in this series and looking forward to seeing what happens. I would have read this sooner, but I forgot al about this book. 

6. 2nd Chance by James Patterson. I am looking forward to continue on with this series. I love a good mystery with a female detective. 

5. Spider Bones by  Kathy Reichs. I need to catch up on this series. I have just two books until I am caught up. I am looking forward to find out what happens for Temperance. 

4. The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan. I have heard great things about this book and while I do not own it due to not being able to find it at my local bookstores I hope to get my hands on it soon. 

3. Enclave by Ann Aguirre. I don't have this book yet, but I hope to by it soon. It sounds very interesting and I want to read it to see if it's worth the hype I have been hearing about. 

2. Divergent by Veronica Roth. Another book I have been wanting to read for a while and will read it this year. 

1. Uglies by Scott Westerfeld. I have been wanting to read this book since I read the plot line. It sounds like a very good book that I will love. 










As you can see I have a very interesting list of books to read this year and I am sure there will be more that I have yet to discover or add to my list. 


What books do you have plan to read this new year? 

Book Blogger Confessions #1

http://www.fwiwreviews.net/

Welcome to the very first Book Blogger Confessions, a meme co-hosted with Tiger from All-Consuming Books on the 1st and 3rd Monday of every month, to discuss some of the frustrations that are unique to book bloggers.

I saw this over at Hands and Home and I thought it was a very interesting idea. We all talk about the books we are reading, our opinions on books and other book related topics, but never about blogging itself.

Q. How has the "job" of book blogging changed your reading habits? Both pro and con. 


I am fairly new to book blogging, but I have been keeping personal blogs since 2001. I never looked at it as a "job", but as something I want to do to share with others my ideas and feelings. While I try to keep some of my view points professional and not to give away too much personal information. 


I decided in January of 2011 to try to read more books. I love reading and I felt bad that I was not able to read for fun like I use to do when I was a child. I use to always have my nose in a book, when I wasn't playing sports. That all changed when I got into college. I still bought books, but usually they were history books and had something to do with one of my classes or something historical I was interested in. 


Since starting to blog about books I find myself trying to read more. Before I did not read as much even with my goal of reading 50 books in a year. I now think I can pace myself better for this year's challenge. I find myself looking for interesting books to read as well as trying to finish book series I have started. Before I just bought any book that look good. Now I read other blogs and go through GoodReads to find more books that may not be sitting on Target shelves, but is still a very good book. 


Also, since book blogging I have discovered some more genre's of books that I enjoy and want to keep finding more books. One of those genre's is dystopian. I didn't realize that some of my favorite books as a kid fell under this genre. Since discovering it I have been looking for more and more books in this genre and I will not stop. 


The bad is I feel that when classes start in two days I won't be able to read as often. I have only three classes while two of them shouldn't be too hard, one is statistics and I have a feeling this could be a challenge class for me. I need to spend time studying for this class. I also will hopefully (keep your finger) have an internship this semester, which will be 18 hours a week I will have to spend. So I might not be able to read all the books I want to. As you will see I have many great books on my to be read pile and I want read soon. I have two books just calling my name and a few more I plan on buying soon. 


Overall, book blogging has introduced me to many great books, authors and other blogger. I look forward to what it brings to me. 

Musing Monday

This event is host by Should Be Reading

What is/are the first book(s) you’re reading for the new year?


I already started and finished The Death Cure by James Dashner. I am now reading Black Mass by Dick Lehr and Gerard O'Neill. 


What are the first books you are reading this new year?

The Death Cure Review

I read this book in a matter of a day or two. I got this book with money I got for Christmas and I wanted to see what happen in the series since this is the last book in the trilogy.  I have been enjoying this series and I just want to see how it all ended.

Synopsis: The trials are suppose to be over, but WICKED still wants Thomas and his friends to help them save the world suffering from The Flare a deadly virus that is making humans go crazy and loose their sanity.

Thomas does not trust WICKED and will do what he can to save himself and his friends from helping this evil organization from using people as subjects.

Review: There is no secret that I LOVE this series. I was hoping that this book would be as good as the other two and there would be new ideas and threats for Thomas and his friends to face. I was not let down. Not only did we get to see the inside of WICKED's headquarters, but Denver, one of the few cities still standing. We got to see what people who were not past the gone lives were like and we got to know more about why Thomas and his friends were chosen to help save the human race.

I think the series could easily go on, but I think the way it ended was good. Left some questions, but only about their future and not what WICKED was up to. The questions that Thomas was looking for were answered throughout the book.

I will say that anyone who enjoy the other two books, will love this book as well. I will be adding this trilogy to my list of favorite series.

Rating:

2012 TBR Pile Challenge Has Started

If you remember earlier in December... I think it was December, possibly could have been November, I posted about this challenge. All this year I am going to read books I have been meaning to read or were published in 2011 and further. This shouldn't be too hard since, I have tons of books waiting to be read and many more added to my list on GoodReads.

So my first book for this challenge is The Death Cure by James Dashner. It was published in 2011 and I have been wanting to read it since I read the first book, The Maze Runner. After that, since I have almost done with it already, I plan on reading the book my boyfriend got me for Christmas which is Black Mass, all about the Irish Mob and the FBI. I followed the story about Whitey Bulger being arrested due to going to Boston in September and was interesting in it since I study criminal justice.

After that, who knows what I will be reading, probably Uglies and Divergent to continue with the Dystopian theme I have been going with.