Top Ten (Plus a Few) Books I'm Looking Forward To In 2015

Once again it is time to make a Top Ten Tuesday about the books you are thrilled to get your hands on in the coming year. Thank you to the Broke and the Bookish for hosting this meme because I spent an evening getting overexcited to discover new releases and anticipate sequels to some of my favorites.

There are so many exciting books coming out in 2015!! In fact, there are so many books being released in 2015 I couldn't pick just 10. Since I was going to pick more than 10 anyway, I decided to just list them all. Go big or go home! I went way over this week, but I hope you'll forgive me since I also included lots of beautiful covers in this post.

November Wrap Up (2014)

This month has been a great reading month in terms of content, but a bit dismal in terms of numbers. I only read five books this month. They were all rather large books and I loved all the books I read. However, everything I read was finished in the first half of the month. Since then I've been slumpy and haven't been reading anything. I'm rolling with the slump for now, but I'm hoping I'll get over it soon. I love to read this time of year, but right now I am just not feeling it. Wish me luck in December! I hope you have had a lovely start to your holiday season.

Books Mentioned: 

The Archived by Victoria Schwab 

Scarlet by Marissa Meyer 

Elizabeth the Queen by Sally Bedell Smith 

Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater 

Cress by Marissa Meyer

Review- Jane Austen Cover to Cover by Margaret C. Sullivan

 

Genre: Non-fiction
Hardcover - 224 pgs
Published by Quirk Books
Source: Review Copy from Quirk 
Add it // Buy it 
Rating: 5/5

Jane Austen’s six novels are true classics, still immensely popular some 200 years after their first publication. But although the celebrated stories never change, the covers are always different. Jane Austen Cover to Cover compiles two centuries of design, from elegant Victorian hardcovers and the famed 1894 “Peacock” edition to 1950s pulp, movie tie-in editions, graphic novels, foreign-language translations, and many, many others. Filled with beautiful artwork and insightful commentary, this fascinating and visually intriguing collection is a must for Janeites, design geeks, and book lovers of every stripe.

In true Janeite fashion I cannot fix upon the page or the cover that made me fall in love with this book. It may have been the moment I opened it! When I stumbled onto a twitter post that gave me the chance to review this book, I jumped on it. It is appealing to the Jane Austen fan that I am and my bibliophile side simply because it is a book about beautiful books.

First of all, the physical copy is so delightful to read and look through. The interior and pages are bright and colorful with so many quotes and interesting facts about Austen, her characters, and her books thrown in between the covers. Within the collection of Austen's book covers, there is a history of publishing and readership of her books as well. The stories of the covers and pictures are so interesting. I loved to see the cover trends based on time periods and popularity of the works. The pictures are beautiful and I found so many beautiful covers I wish were on my shelves! My favorite is probably the Peacock edition like so many others, but I also loved some of the more modern sets like the Penguin Limited Editions.

Another wonderful thing about this book is I know I'll be able to read it and look through a lot and learn something new every time. I started out trying to read the whole book, but I kept stalling after a few pages. Instead a few days later I flipped through it reading pages that interested me and skipping the ones that didn't. A few days after that I did the same thing again. After several peruses through the book, I feel like I've gotten a lot of knowledge and enjoyment out of the book without sitting down to read it straight through. It was so much fun to find my copies of Austen's novels as well.

This would make an excellent Christmas gift for any Austen fan in your life. The book is fun and interesting plus it can be enjoyed again and again. I would highly recommend it!

*The publisher sent me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

Three Series I've Missed Out On

You may have noticed from the posts on this blog I love young-adult fiction and consume quite a bit of it. Yet as much as I love young-adult books, they usually occur in sets of three (or more!). Committing to a new series is hard especially since I already have so many unread on my shelves. It is impossible to read every series that comes out since time is limited. Plus there are always new books and series being debuted.

Therefore, today I'm going to list three series I haven't read and I don't believe I am going to make an effort to read them. These are popular series, but they are not very appeal to me or I've tried to read them in the past without any luck.

Because I haven't read these books, I have no idea if these series are amazing or terrible. This is not a reflection on the merit of the book or their authors. For me, these series are not as appealing as some others I already own or want to purchase so I don't think I'll be picking them up.

1) Mara Dyer Trilogy by Michelle Hodkin - I've heard a lot of talk about this series, but it doesn't really appeal to me. Even though so many people have been waiting so long for book three, I haven't jumped on the bandwagon. I don't think I'll be picking this one up just because it doesn't sound amazing to me and I've heard very mixed reviews. I have the first book on my Kindle though so you never know.

2) The Selection Series by Kira Cass -  While coming up with this list, I wasn't sure if I wanted to add this series or not. The three books in this series do appeal to me, but I've borrowed them in various formats from the library and I never read them when I have them. HOWEVER, I want The Heir on my shelves so badly, that cover is gorgeous, so it might happen eventually.

3) Uglies Series by Scott Westerfeld  - For me, dystopians is not my favorite. I like it occasionally, but I don't reach for it without encouragement. This series is one of the original YA dystpoians and I doubt I'll ever pick it up even though so many people really rave about it. I do plan on picking up some of Scott Westerfield's other books, but this one is not as interesting to me.

  

Let me know if I'm missing out or if I must check these series out!

Book Scenarios Tag

This one was filmed a little while ago and I just found the footage on my computer. This tag was a lot of fun! Thanks to the creator Lindsay Hearts Books for making this tag. Questions are in the video description. 

People Mentioned:

Lindsay Hearts Books: http://goo.gl/uPU2U5

Katytastic: http://goo.gl/uUR7cN

Books Mentioned: 

My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick 

The Abhorsen Trilogy by Garth Nix 

Making Sense of the Troubles by David McKittrick 

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

Percy Jackson Series by Rick Riordan 

Persuasion by Jane Austen 

Twilight by Stephanie Meyer

Sanctum by Madeline Roux

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling

Top Ten Books on My Winter TBR

This week on Top Ten Tuesday the topic is one I'm not very good at. I constantly make TBRs then never follow them. I'm a mood reader, but I still try to make lists of books I want to read now! So we shall see how this list pans out. Even though I want to talk about all the cool new released coming in the new year, mostly this list includes books I already own since the holiday season means I'll be shopping for other instead of myself and I need to reduce me enormous unread book pile.

1) The Book Thief by Markus Zusak - This book has been on my Kindle for a few months. I really want to read it, but I don't want to be sad. Also there are a lot of people who tell me this is their favorite book and that is a lot of pressure! I want to read it and I want to like it. So I'm not sure if I'll make it to this one. I keep putting it off.

2) Blood Promise by Richelle Mead - This book has been on my TBR for what seems like forever even though its only been about a year. I really like this series and need to power throught the last three books.

3) Beautiful Chaos by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl - I need to finish this series! I enjoyed book two, but since I read it so long ago, I forget a lot of it. Not many people have made it through this series, but I intend to!

4) Legend by Marie Lu -  So many people love this series. I think I might have spoiled the entire series by accident on Tumblr the other day. Even so, I'm going to try to read it without thinking about that too much.

5) The Complete Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle - Every TBR I create I say I want to finish this book. I am making progress! I've made it through a dozen stories in the last couple weeks and I have a goal to read The Hounds of Baskerville by Christmas.

    

6) Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Mariller - This book has been recommended to me so many times and I really want to check out this series. There are retelling elements and fantasy elements! I just started it, but I've started about a million things recently so I hope I get to this.

7) Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell - Everyone loves this book and I really want to read it. Somehow I've just ignored it sitting on my shelf even though it sounds amazing. Hopefully while I'm trapped inside due to snow and cold I'll check it out.

8) Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert - This book has the honor of being on my TBR pile the longest according to Goodreads. I really need to read this and I always tend to pick up more classics in the winter so it seems like a good thing to add.

9) The Will of the Empress by Tamora Pierce - Already started this one too! I like it so far, but again need to finish it before I start yet another book.

10) The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss - This is the most iffy book. I'm not sure if I'll get to this one, but I want to try it over my Christmas break from work since I'll have a lot of time to just sit and read without distractions.

    


Last Week's TTT -----> Top Ten Sequels I Can't Wait for

Five Reasons to Check Out the Library

One of my favorite places in the world is my local library. You may know this because of my many library hauls where I talk about all the amazing books I've picked up recently. (1, 2, 3, 4) I love to visit and spend time there and everything about it I find relaxing and wonderful.  Recently though I was talking to someone who mentioned they don't like the library. I was shocked and confused! Not like libraries! So I thought I'd make a quick list of reasons why you should check out the library. 

Source

Fall Time Cozy Time Tag

It is almost time for winter, but I had to squeeze this Fall Time Tag in before the change of seasons since Fall is my favorite. It competes heavily with summer, but since my birthday falls in Fall, the autumn always wins.

Top Ten Sequels I Can't Wait To Get

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by the Broke and the Bookish. This week is the Top Ten Sequels We Cannot Wait to Get! This is a great topic and one that is really easy since there are so many series I am in the middle of right now! 

The amount of waiting I am doing right now for sequels is unacceptable! There are so many amazing things set to come out rather soon, but not soon enough! This time I have a mix. There are five sequels listed that are upcoming releases. The other five are books I just haven't gotten my hands on yet. Sadly two of my upcoming releases do not have covers yet, but the others have AMAZING covers so I think you'll be ok. 

I'm just doing covers this week since all of my descriptions will be: I loved this book! Give me the next one! 

   '

4) The Raven Cycle #4 - There isn't even a title for this book yet and I haven't finished Blue Lily, Lily Blue, but I am dying for the last book already! I know I am probably going to need it immediately no matter how the third book ends. 

5) Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas- Technically I already own this book, but I haven't put my hands on it to read it yet so I am throwing it on here because I want to read it so much! 

Previously released: 

  

 

My Last Top Ten -----> Books I Want to Reread

Cleaning Up These Used Books

A couple of weeks ago I spent an afternoon cleaning up some of my used books. I've purchase a good chunks of my books second hand and enjoy cleaning them up and taking stickers off of the books to help clean them up. I spent an few hours one afternoon working on these books. It can take a lot longer if you have several library copies to work on or if you only have a few stickers to take off, the process can go much faster. 

My Supplies:  Books Hair Dryer Paper Towels Goo Gone Kitchen knife  (I've also used an exacto knife for this) Scissors

Other Things Needed: Patience  A TV episode Tasty Beverage Time Requirements 2-3 minutes per sticker 8-10 minutes per Library covering

Top Auto-Buy Authors

There are a few authors on my shelf I will buy books from no matter the cost or if it is going to be hard to get! I love these authors no matter how many or few books they've published so far. I have authors on this list who have published a lot and other who have only published one series. Check it out if you are interested in some of the authors are my absolute favorites.