Summer is Over

[Book Tag]



School started this week for me, which means my reading rythm will change. Also usually I tend to gravitate towards more contemporary books in the summer season which might change now that we are moving towards fall.
So I decided to do this tag that I came across for the end of the summer season.



1-How many books did you read this summer?
Unfortunately I haven't been reading that much this summer, or well the whole year, so my total for May-August is 6+2+7+3

2-If you took a trip, did you take books along with you and what are they?
The only trips I made (longer than a day) were to the family summer house by the lake and there I read:  I See London I See France, This is How it Happened, Changes in Latitudes, Flame in the Mist & Dream On. - So lots of contemporary and a couple fantasy ones.

3-Did you read any series/trilogies over the summer?
I made it into a goal to finish as many series as I could and so I'll list the ones I finished:
All Fall Down, Naturals, Silver, Anomaly
(So what's left of those on my shelves is Snow Like Ashes and the Kiss of Deception)

4-Did you read any books set during the summertime?
Yes pleanty, like I said I like to read contemporary and romance books during the summer season and lots of those fittingly have a summery setting to them.

5-What book(s) did you want to read but didn't have time for?
The ones I mentioned for series I want to finish in Q3 and also some others:
The Idiot Brain, the Season of You & Me and I was also wishing on reading more classics.

6-Did you accomplish any book related goals?
I finished some from the yearly challenge list (link)
Also my goal of keeping my TBR small and not buying that many more - which I think I succeeded in, and even had an unhaul (link)
As for reading a classic per month - that didn't go well.

7-What was your favorite place to get comfy and read?
My bed. Haven't really been reading anywhere else lately...

8-What particular genre did you read most?
July was the only month in which I read something other than contemporary the most (it being 14% contemporary and 29% of crime and 29% of fantasy).
But overall definitely contemporary

9-What was your absolute favorite thing to read all summer?
Surprisingly I have an asnwer for this - My Lady Jane. It was one of the few 5 star reads and I was just so positively suprised by it

10-Are you happy or sad summer is coming to its end?
Bit of both. I started at a new school which I was so looking forward to, but at the same time who wouldn't miss having a vacation?

Read on lovelies,

S

Data and Statistics

So every year I make a yearly post about all kinds of data I gather about the books I've read.
So this year I decided to add some data to my monthly wrap-ups as well will I've been enjoying.

2016 - link



I decided to make a list regarding the data I gather and add to my Excel and show some charts and explain some decisions



READ table - contains: title, rating, author, publication year, language, mark if it's part of a series, date read, genre, mark if I've reviewed it, edition (physical, e-, audio,  ARC) and times I've reread it

For example: 
       Title                                                      rating      author         public.    lang.     series  date read       genre

(stand alone: s. open series: o, finished series f)

EBOOKS table - contains: title, author, rating

OWN/TBR table - contains: title, stars, author, language, genre

SERIES tables - finished/won't continue, currently in the middle of, and the amount of books in the series

CLASSICS: a table for all author with bindups and listed all its contents (plays, short stories...) with title, rating, and order that it's in the book


CHARTS: monthly count, yearly count, star rating, genres of both read and owned

(So the genres are a bit weird but if one catagory is technically a subcatagory of another - like fantasy and magic - you choose the one that is closest and if there isn't one you take a broader one.
So if it's a fantasy book without magic you choose fantasy.
It's been working for me, but I admit it's very peculiar.)

Read on lovelies,

S

Musical Theatre

[BOOK TAG]

1. Wicked - Favourite fictional friendship
The Harry Potter trio, and everyone else that belong


2. Sweeney Todd - Favourite villain
I love to hate Umbridge she just gets me so angry and aren't strong feelings a mark of a good writer?


3. Phantom of the Opera - Favourite love triangle
This is the hardest question because I tend to strongly dislike this trope but I'll go with the Infernal Devices, but at the same time I don't feel like that's a good answer because I didn't like the triangle nor really how it was resolved but I really liked the relationships when they weren't a jumbled mess.


4. The Lion King - Favourite sidekick
The trio from Gallagher Girls (that turns into a pentagon?) is one of my favourites since all their storylines worked well and were entertaining on their own.


5. Grease - Least favourite ending
The White Rabbit Chronicles. I think the ending worked well and I liked it, but I hated how one characters death was resolved by just getting a replacement in the last book.
(also read my answer to q7)


6. Matilda: The Musical - Favourite adaptation of a book
The movie for Howl's moving castle is one I love


7. Les Miserables - Favourite death in a book
I'm picking a controversial one - The Divergent trilogy (y'all know the end of Allegiant). Now while I hated that it happened - doesn't that show how Roth had us wrapped around her finger and made us feel all those things?
Don't get me wrong I absolutely loathe that that character died but it was so well done, so I hate it and I love it.

Read on lovelies,

S

Book Haul

The funny thing is, I bought most of these book because post-it tabs were on sale at a bookstore... Haven't heard that excuse yet have ya?

1. The Idiot Brain
2. Just Dreaming
3. Enigma
4. The Season of You & Me

The ones I've already read, and waited to find pretty copies:

(I have a post about buying classics and different editions - explaining my decisions as well)

1. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
2. To Kill a Mockingbird

I strongly dislike this cover.
What's with faces, and that pose?!

Read on lovelies,

S

Read This Month

July

1. Changes in Latitudes REVIEW
2. Flame in the Mist REVIEW
3. Take the Key and Lock Her Up (Series Finisher)
4. Bad Blood (Series Finisher)
5. Dream On
6. To Kill a Mockingbird (CftM)
7. Cold-Case Christianity for Kids Non-fiction

Data:

Male/Female author:
         86 % female,
         14 % male
Genre:
        14 % contemporary,
        14 % classic,
        14 % non-fiction,
        29 % crime,

        29 % magic/fantasy

Pages:
        2 299p
Format:
        100 % physical books
Average:
         4.14
Arcs:
         29 % sent to me (for honest reviews)

Read on lovelies,

S

Flame in the Mist : review

Renée Ahdieh

*Copy kindly provided by the publisher, Penguin Random House, in exchange for an honest review!*

The daughter of a prominent samurai, Mariko has long known her place—she may be an accomplished alchemist, whose cunning rivals that of her brother Kenshin, but because she is not a boy, her future has always been out of her hands.

Goodreads' link to the book!

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Stars: ✦✦✦✦1/2

So as usual, I'll tell 4.5 things I liked about the book and 0.5 things I didn't like.

So what did I think?

+1 | The writing style is so lyrical yet it flows and isn't hard to follow, just like in The Wrath and the Dawn

+1 | Retelling - you all know I absolutely love them - yet I never knew what to expect!

+1 | World and explanations.

I always want to get sucked into the book I'm reading, so with fantasy books if the world is not explained well you might distance ourself from the story because you're wondering how something came to be in it.

But Ahdieh managed it extremely well and the world was so interesting and I can't wait for the next one

>Also the back had a mini dictionary for some new words that fit with the theme

+1 | World Action and pace. So much happened in the book! And when I had to put the book down I always felt the urge to pick it up again and kept thinking about it

+/-0.5 | Characters and development
We learn so much about these characters but the thing I was really impressed by was that we learned everything in exactly the pave that Ahdieh set, working with bits and pieces that eventually click.
             I also really liked the characters and how very different they all were


     There was also some romance that kind of fell short for me at the end, but all the relationships and friendships as a whole group worked well

bonus: The End. I don't think I need to say anything else about it

Read on lovelies,

S

Books I Want as Movies

Also I was thinking of ones I think would work as movies


ACTION & ADVENTURE
Cinder
Assassins Curse
The Wrath and the Dawn

Gallagher Girls

RETELLINGS & ROMANCE
Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight
Geekerella
Cinder and Ella
Anna and the French Kiss

NON-FICTION
We Should Hang Out Sometime (I don't know how it'd be made but I'd love to see it)

Read on lovelies,

S