A to Z Survey

I’m in a weird mood. I have reviews to catch up on but I’m really not in the mood to write them. Actually, I’m in a reading funk. You know, that mood you get when all you want to do is read, read, read and forget the world and everyone and thing in it for a while. At the moment, I want to immerse myself in Robin Hobb’s Royal Assassin, but I also want to be caught up on things so I hope this tag will get me into a writing mood.

I saw this book tag a while back on Read Books and Drink Coffee. It was created by Jamie, the Perpetual Page-Turner.

Author you’ve read the most books from:

Good question. I did a Top Ten Tuesday post on this once so I’ll go with the answer I find there, which is Tamora Pierce. I’ve read the majority of her series and she is one of my favorite authors. I enjoy reading her stories because they are filled with strong female characters.

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“Jane Eyre” by Charlotte Bronte

Writing this reflection is intimidating because Jane Eyre is a big-ass book and I have a lot of thoughts about it. When I write these pieces, I like to include as much of the thoughts I had while reading so that when I reread this reflection later, I can easily recall the experience of reading the book. But right now, it’s daunting to get my thoughts in order and jot them down.

Quick summary:

From the book jacket:

Fiery love, shocking twists of fate, and tragic mysteries put a lonely governess in jeopardy in JANE EYRE

Orphaned as a child, Jane has felt an outcast her whole young life. Her courage is tested once again when she arrives at Thornfield Hall, where she has been hired by the brooding, proud Edward Rochester to care for his ward Adèle. Jane finds herself drawn to his troubled yet kind spirit. She falls in love. Hard.

But there is a terrifying secret inside the gloomy, forbidding Thornfield Hall. Is Rochester hiding from Jane? Will Jane be left heartbroken and exiled once again?

Exploring My Bookshelves: Catching Up

Exploring My Bookshelves is a weekly meme created by Victoria at Addlepates and Book Nerds and co-hosted with Shannon at For the Love of Words. Visit either blog for the list of topics.

Don’t mind me. I’m just entertaining myself here. I haven’t done one of these posts in a long time, but they are fun and I am in need of fun today, so I’ll include in this post all the ones I missed, which is a lot (yeahie! Something fun to do), and do this weekend’s topic as well. I’ll start with the most recent and work backwards.

This week’s topic:

A book with your least favorite trope

Weekend Reads #52: Thoughts, Emotions

Weekend Reads is a weekly discussion on a variety of topics. At the end of the post, I’ll include what I plan to read on the weekend.

This weekend’s question/topic/whatever:

Thoughts – Saturday, July 9, 2016 6:50AM

It’s hard to get me riled up about things but events over the past couple days have pushed my limit. My emotions were already high since reading Paul Kalanithi’s When Breath Becomes Air. I was nearing the end of the book and the epilogue made me emotional. I get my news late so on Wednesday I learned of Alton Sterling’s death in Baton Rouge, La. With Thursday came news of Philando Castile’s death in Minnesota. Both are Black men and both were shot by police officers hours apart. Then on Friday morning I heard 5 officers died in a sniper shooting in Dallas, Tex. The news shocked me. The officers were targeted?

Comics Roundup #7: monk — keys

Rasputin, Vol. 1: The Road to the Winter Palace by Alex Grecian, illus. by Riley Rossmo

Genre:

Supernatural

Quick summary:

A supernatural retelling of Rasputin’s story. Rasputin was a member of the Romanov court under Nicholas II’s monarchy in Russia. He served as an adviser and healer for he was the only person who was able to cure prince Alexie, who was a hemophiliac. However, Rasputin was given the moniker “mad monk” because it’s purported that he was crazy. His actions were extreme, unusual, and sometimes cruel.

In this comic, Russian folklore is mixed with history to provide a backstory for Rasputin and an explanation for his odd personality and abilities. He is a healer in this story, but that ability is pushed a little further because he’s able to revive those who are at the edge of life. However, each time that Rasputin revives someone, he takes a bit of that person with him, hence his varied personality.

Two Audiobooks: “The Lightning Thief” by Rick Riordan and “You” by Caroline Kepnes

A couple weeks ago, I decided to give audio books a shot. Many readers find it a convenient way of reading in this busy world that we live in. With audio books, we can read while exercising, driving, and even working. We don’t have to carve out time to read, we can read as we go about our day.

For me, it was convenient but ineffective because I didn’t glean much from the stories other than having something to occupy my mind while doing repetitious tasks. The audio books I read were a middle-grade fantasy story, Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan, and an adult thriller, You by Caroline Kepnes. Both were rereads. I’m a visual learner so I retain materials better when I see it, in this case, when I read the physical book. I easily forget things I hear so listening to an audio book doesn’t work for me. However, because of the praise audio books have received, I decided to give it a shot. Maybe I am mistaken in assuming that they won’t work for me, I thought.

Weekend Reads #51: What Does It Mean to Read Diversely?

Weekend Reads is a weekly discussion on a variety of topics. At the end of the post, I’ll include what I plan to read on the weekend.

This weekend’s question:

What does the term “diverse” mean to you? And what does it mean to read diversely?

Mid-Year Book Freak Out Tag: 2016

I think the Orang-utan Librarian can read my thoughts. Just as I was considering to do this tag, she tagged me in her post. Obviously she’s been hitting the mystic bananas.

I first did this tag last year and since then decided to do it every year. It was created by ReadLikeWildFire (a booktuber) and Ely Jayne (a blogger). Let’s get to it.

Best book you’ve read so far in 2016.

2016 Reading Wrap-Up: Second Quarter

It’s the end of the second quarter of the year and my reading is way better than I expected. I even bumped my Goodreads reading goal back up to 60. That is, I must read 60 things this year (books, magazines, comics, etc.). This quarter was even better than the first. I didn’t realize I read this much until I did this wrapup.

Books | Comics | Mangas | Audio books