Top 5 Tuesday #33: U – V – W – X – Y – Z

Top 5 Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by Shanah, the Bionic Book Worm.

This week’s topic:

U – V – W – X – Y – Z

(authors whose name begins with the featured letters)

U is for…

Myron Uhlberg

Uhlberg wrote the children’s picture book The Sound of All Things, which is illustrated by Ted Papoulas. It’s set in New York City in the 1930s and is about a hearing boy visiting Coney Island with his deaf parents and describing the sound of things he hears to his father. It’s a wonderful read, and the illustrations are very realistic and beautiful.

V is for…

Catherynne M. Valente

I can’t believe I haven’t yet read Valente’s The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making. It was one of the first books I added to my TBR when I got hooked on booktube a couple years ago, and it’s been sitting on my shelves since then.

W is for…

Brent Weeks

So far, I’ve only read Weeks’s Night Angel trilogy, which is about a street urchin who becomes a notorious assassin, but I’m looking forward to reading his Lightbringer series, which EVERYONE says is good. But I’m hoping Weeks will write more stories set in the Night Angel world.

X is for…

….I don’t know. I’ve neither read nor own a book by an author whose name begins with X.

Y is for…

Rick Yancey

Yancey’s Monstrumologist, a YA paranormal, historical fiction novel about a boy who’s an apprentice to a scientist who studies monsters, is one of my favorite books, and I don’t understand why it isn’t more popular. The story is engrossing and so well written and interesting. I keep hoping for a movie mashup of this and Newt Scamander’s Fantastic Beasts.

Z is for…

Germano Zullo

Zullo wrote Sky High, a funny children’s picture book about two neighbors competing to build the tallest, grandest house. It’s a silly, fun read. The book features illustrations by Albertine that are simple but detailed as the houses become more complex. I bought the book because of how tall it is and was glad I liked the content when I read it.

That’s it for me.

Let me know if you’ve read any of these.

Two Audiobooks: “Blue Monday” by Nicci French & “Hillbilly Elegy” by J.D. Vance

It’s the end of March and I’ve FINALLY started reviewing the books I read this year, smh. The first two books I read in 2020 were both audiobooks, which shows that this year began on a busy note.

It’s a little surprising to me how comfortable I’ve become with audiobooks. Now I don’t mind listening to new-to-me books on audio; however, I can only do so for certain genres. I refrain from listening to new-to-me epic fantasy books on audio since they tend to be very detailed and there’s no way I’d be able to keep up or remember what’s said. If I do listen to such a book on audio, it’s because it’s a reread.

As for these two books, one is a psychological thriller/mystery, which work well for me on audio because I get so hooked on the mystery that my attention hardly strays from the story, and the other is a memoir, which, surprisingly, works well for me on audio too. There are no similarities between these two books other than that they were the first books I read this year and they are both audiobooks. Those are the only reasons why I paired them in this post.

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Blue Monday by Nicci French, narr. by Beth Chalmers

Genre:

Psychological Thriller; Mystery

Series:

Frieda Klein, book 1

Pubbed:

2011

Goodreads summary:

The abduction of five-year-old Matthew Farraday provokes a national outcry and a desperate police hunt. And when a picture of his face is splashed over the newspapers, psychotherapist Frieda Klein is left troubled: one of her patients has been relating dreams in which he has a hunger for a child. A child he can describe in perfect detail, a child the spitting image of Matthew.

OWLs Magical Readathon | 2020 TBR

The Magical Readathon is back for another year, and I’ve decided to participate in it again! 😀 I participated in it last year and did well enough to succeed in becoming an Aurologist — someone who reads and studies auras. This time… I don’t know which career I want to reach for; so for now I’ll just do as many OWLs as I can.

If you’re new to the Magical Readathon, visit the website to find out more information or watch the Book Roast’s video. But for a quick rundown, here’s what’s up:

• The Magical Readathon is inspired by the exams in the Harry Potter books: OWLs (Ordinary Wizarding Levels) and NEWTs (Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests); therefore, this readathon has two parts.
• The OWLs take place April 1-30.
  • There are no grades for individual exams. Grades are determined based on total exams completed.
• The NEWTS take place August 1-31.
  • The amount of books you read for each subject determines your grade for that subject.
• You can choose a wizarding career to pursue. Each career has a certain amount of OWL and NEWT requirements.

So like I said, I don’t know yet what career I want to pursue. Because I was an Aurologist last year, I was considering to go for Mind Medic this year. I think that’s a natural progression that makes sense. But Mind Medic requires A LOT of reading, so I’m also considering Trader of Magical Tomes because what book nerd wouldn’t want to be a bookseller.

Top 5 Tuesday #32: P – Q – R – S – T

Top 5 Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by Shanah, the Bionic Book Worm.

This week’s topic:

P – Q – R – S – T

(authors whose name begins with the featured letters)

P is for…

Richard Preston

“The Realms of the Gods” by Tamora Pierce

It’s crazy how far behind I am on reading and reviewing. My plan was to be caught up by now but so much is happening that I’m unable to. It’s a hard time for everyone and I just wish more people would take this coronavirus thing seriously.

Anyway, here I have the last book I read last year — Tamora Pierce’s The Realms of the Gods. I read it as part of my plan to reread all Pierce’s books I enjoyed when I was a kid. I’ve been going through them slowly and have been surprised by my reaction to some of them, like this one.

Genre:

YA Fantasy

Pubbed:

1996

Series:

The Immortals, book 4

Goodreads summary:

During a dire battle against the fearsome Skinners, Daine and her mage teacher, Numair, are swept into the Divine Realms. Although they are happy to be alive, they are not where they want to be. They are desperately needed back home where their old enemy, Ozorne, and his army of strange creatures are waging war against Tortall.

Book Haul #60: Birthday Haul!!… kinda

I got books! 😀 I’ve also ran out of space, so I have no idea where I will place the overflow. I hate stacking them on the floor. For the rest of the year, I’m going to try my hardest to stop buying new books and instead read the ones I already have and get rid of any I absolutely hate and will never read to free up some space.

There.

I said it.

I MUST do it.

(hopefully)

Purchases

Physical

Top 5 Tuesday #31: K – L – M – N – O

Top 5 Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by Shanah, the Bionic Book Worm.

This week’s topic:

K – L – M – N – O

(authors whose name begins with the featured letters)

K is for…

M.P. Kozlowsky