What’s On Your Nightstand: August 2016

What’s on Your Nightstand is a monthly meme hosted by 5 Minutes for Books that summarizes what you’ve read for the month, what you’re currently reading, and what you plan to read next. It’s basically a wrap-up, though not as detailed, depending on how you structure your reading wrap-ups. The meme is held the last Tuesday of every month.

I haven’t done one of these wrap-ups since June because life has been busy and I forgot. In this post, I will briefly talk about books I read since that June post and I’ll also do a wrap-up for the Bout of Books readathon and an update on my progress for the Pokemon Indigo League #ReadThemAllThon. I won’t mention articles I read or podcasts I listened to because I hardly read any articles and didn’t keep track of the ones I read. As for podcasts, I listened to a lot of them but didn’t keep track either.

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“Scarlet” by Marissa Meyer

After Cinder, I was gung-ho for all things Lunar Chronicles. I was so absorbed in that book that I immediately sought to acquire the second in the series and quickly read it. Unfortunately, reading Scarlet wasn’t as great as Cinder.

Goodreads overview:

Cinder, the cyborg mechanic, returns in the second thrilling installment of the bestselling Lunar Chronicles. She’s trying to break out of prison—even though if she succeeds, she’ll be the Commonwealth’s most wanted fugitive.

Halfway around the world, Scarlet Benoit’s grandmother is missing. It turns out there are many things Scarlet doesn’t know about her grandmother or the grave danger she has lived in her whole life. When Scarlet encounters Wolf, a street fighter who may have information as to her grandmother’s whereabouts, she is loath to trust this stranger, but is inexplicably drawn to him, and he to her.

As Scarlet and Wolf unravel one mystery, they encounter another when they meet Cinder. Now, all of them must stay one step ahead of the vicious Lunar Queen Levana, who will do anything for the handsome Prince Kai to become her husband, her king, her prisoner.

Comics roundup #10: four badass women

You can view this as a review post or as recommendations for strong female characters in comic books. It wasn’t until I sat down to do this post that I realized all the main characters in the comics I’m about to discuss are women.

They are all strong, brave, independent badass fighters who do what they must to pursue their goals. Their backgrounds vary — spy, assassin, housewife, outcast, single mom — as well as their age. All of these were fun to read and I recommend them all to you.

Currently Reading Tag

Technology is not my friend at the moment. My laptop is sick and my cellphone is smashed. It’s sad to say, but I’m barely making it through life at the moment. I’ve come to rely a lot on my technological devices and have developed a connection to them that might be an unhealthy addiction. I don’t think I can last long without being tuned in to something. At times I can ignore their absence by grabbing a book, but whenever I get a nag to check Facebook for some pointless thing, I again start to miss the presence of my devices.

So since I am limited at posting on here for the moment, I’ll do some tag posts, which are usually quick and easy to do, and I’ll try to throw in a review or two, if I can, before my laptop is fixed.

This time I’m doing the Currently Reading Tag, which I found on YouTube. It was created by Charly Reynhorse.

How many books do you usually read at once?

I usually read up to 3 or 4 books at once but these days, because of how busy I am and how much my attention span has shortened, I mostly read about 2 books at once.

The Sims Book Tag

For the past couple months, or rather, since receiving my Ipad mini, I’ve been hooked on Sims Freeplay. I can’t stop playing. Some times I play it so often that I have to take a break, but after a few weeks I’m back on it. It’s such fun! I just wish my Sims had more clothes and that the game didn’t cost so much to play (if you want all the cool stuff).

When I came across this tag on YouTube, I was elated. Not only had I found another Sims fan, but that fan had created a tag based on the crazy Sims. Yeahie! 😀 The tag was created by Hailey at Hails Hearts Nyc.

The original Sims: the best author debut.

Unfortunately, I haven’t played any other Sims games except the Freeplay one, which I find very convenient. Actually, it’s the only thing I use my Ipad for.

The question doesn’t specify whether it means an author whose debut novel was published this year or an author’s best debut in general. I’ll go with the best debut novel I read this year and that’s —

Anna and the Swallow Man by Gavriel Savit. It’s a wonderful, heartfelt young-adult, historical novel set during World War II.

Bout of Books 17

The Bout of Books readathon is back! I decided to participate again this year since I enjoyed doing so last year. I’m not a fan of week-long readathons, but I like this one because it’s more relaxed. Here’s more information on what it’s about:

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01 a.m. Monday, August 22nd, and runs through Sunday, August 28th, in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 17 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. — From the Bout of Books team

I doubt I’ll participate in the challenges and all that because I’ll either forget to or I just won’t have the time. As for what I’ll read, I’ll try to limit myself to the books I borrowed from the library.

Diverse Books Tag

I enjoy doing tags because they are lighter, more fun posts to do. I usually type one up if I’m procrastinating on doing something else (like getting caught up on book reviews) or if I just want something fun to do that involves books. I also enjoy reading such posts because I usually discover books I’ve never heard of or learn something new about a novel or nonfiction book that I’ve overlooked.

To further promote diversifying one’s reading, Naz at Read Diverse Books created the Diverse Books Tag. I’ve been meaning to do it for some time now and have finally been able to. The tag is open to everyone and it basically asks you to find books that fit certain categories. The books can either be ones you’ve read or ones you would like to read. It’s a great way of learning about books you probably wouldn’t have heard of otherwise.

Find a book starring a lesbian character.

Comics roundup #9: outcast <- genetics

Since I’d yet to read any of the comics I received on Free Comic Book Day back in May, I decided to try a few of them in an attempt to clear my comic TBR. Two of the comics I received for free/discounted was the first issue of Boy-1 and Oddly Normal. I knew nothing about them when I picked them up, which is different for me because so far the majority of comics and graphic novels I’ve read were either recommended to me by a person or through a blog or video, or were based on a topic or person I was familiar with. However, this plunge into something new wasn’t bad.

“When Breath Becomes Air” by Paul Kalanithi

I tend to stay away from books about death, dying, sickness, leaving, abandonment. I don’t see it as me having a problem with others leaving or the permanence of a person who is gone, but maybe it is.

I grew up on a small island with my extended family. My parents were always away. They would visit or I would visit them; but no matter how long those visits were, they always seemed short to me. I hated saying goodbye and I still do.

Earlier in the year, Paul Kalanithi’s memoir When Breath Becomes Air was one of the most popular books. The buzz caught my interest and made me want to read it, but when I heard it’s about the author’s battle with cancer and that he later died, I procrastinated on picking up the book. Heavy emotions. I didn’t want to deal with it. I didn’t want to cry. Life was heavy enough without the fall of my tears adding to it. So I avoided the book.

Olympics Book Tag

I’m following up my last post with this fun one because I need something to lift my spirit. I’ve been in and out of the doldrums lately so I need something light.

The Olympic Book Tag was created by Shannon at It Starts at Midnight. So since the Olympics is underway, why not do this tag? By the way, I do believe I am the only Jamaican not watching the Olympics right now. I keep forgetting to because I don’t watch much TV anymore (since Suits sucks now 😦 ) but that’s why Facebook exists. I get my updates there and so far it seems we’re doing great! 😀