A Nonfiction Book

If you know me (or even if you've read my other blog posts) you probably know I'm not much for nonfiction. However, I love self-help material, mostly from Tumblr and the Internet, but I couldn't resist when I found a huge self-help area in a one dollar book store while visiting Utah. It's an awesome little place that I can't recall the name of. As soon as I find out, I'll update this information!

Anyways, my mom, brother, my cousins and I stopped by to check out the place (mostly on my suggestion because I love bookstores.). I was amazed by how many books they had- and each was only a dollar! I could've spent forever there, but due to the rest of my family being there, I only had about twenty minutes. I grabbed about five books that I'd read the backs of, one of which happened to be 'the Happiness Project'.

I feel like I'm a pretty happy person, but I (like Gretchen Rubin), could be happier. With little respite from my anxiety, I decided to check out this book. What did I have to lose when it was only a dollar?

When I finished this book, I gave it four out of five stars. I liked the story and I liked a lot of Rubin's suggestions on how to find happiness "in your own kitchen", but there was something missing. One thing that bothered me was how often she would talk about studies and facts without giving any sources. That was probably the biggest problem I had with this book. 

However, I enjoyed the way she blended her story in with information from her studies on happiness. I loved and could relate with a lot of the story, but these were my favorite quotes from it.

I hope they're readable what with the terrible photo resolution that my phone offers. I chose to center this page of my art journal around The Happiness Project, so obviously it's a book worth thinking about. I couldn't just read it, put it down and walk away. A lot of it stayed with me. 

Would I recommend this book? It depends. If you're skeptical of learning about happiness from someone else or are set in your ways, no. But if you have an open mind and a willingness to try to be happier with everyday life, definitely. My mom is interested in reading this book so hopefully once she does, I'll add onto this post with her opinions!

(You may have noticed this blog now has ads. Sorry about that, but I'm seventeen and I don't have a job so I need the money for now. Unless y'all want to go buy one of my books! If the ads get too annoying I'll remove them, but for now just ignore them if you can.)

Shojo Manga!

In my last post, I mentioned that I'd been reading a lot of Manga, but I don't want to spend all my time blogging about books that come in series of about 20 volumes and can be easily read in a day. However, I thought I would share a bit about the different series and authors I've been reading from. 

(Warning: if you don't like graphic novels, step away now!)

The first is Black Bird by Kanoko Sakurakoji. 

I started this while in Dallas for my cousin's graduation and have read almost six volumes in the span of a week. The story line centers around a teen girl named Misao who can see yōkai (monsters) that no one else can. She's been able to see them since she was little and while they are a constant annoyance, they're not particularly dangerous. Until she turns sixteen. 
On her birthday, Misao discovers that she's what yōkai call an "immortal fruit", meaning her blood can magically heal an injured or dying yōkai. Furthermore, if a clan leader marries her, his clan gains power. One clan leader after her is Kyou, a tengu (a specific bird-like demon), and her childhood friend. He can heal her wounds by licking them (I know, ew, but hear me out) and vows he'll do whatever it takes to protect her, leaving Misao to ponder if he really loves her like he says or if he only wants her because she's the immortal fruit. 

The plot is intricate (in case you couldn't tell) 

and full of surprises you won't see coming. 

Furthermore, Sakurakoji's artwork is both 

adorable and stunning. Just look:

(The first picture I found on another, more in-depth review of Black Bird. Click here for link. )

If that doesn't convince you, I don't know what will!

A Book With a Color in the Title

On the side of my blog there is a little button that shows how many books I've read out of my total goal. If you've seen this before, you may have I've been adding books that I've finished, but I haven't been blogging about them. This is because I've gotten really into Manga lately and each volume is so short I feel like blogging about each one individually would get repetitive and time consuming. So I waited until I finished Scarlet, the second book in the Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer.

I took my time reading this only because I was so focused on Manga that I didn't get around to it much. However, when I finally did adjust to the difference in pace and such, I found Scarlet was a book with an interesting plot and a fantastic main character. 

Like Cinder, Scarlet is a retelling of a classic fairy tail and the title is also the name of the main character. In this case, the traditional story was Little Red Riding Hood. Scarlet, the character not the entire novel, is a much more contemporary and stronger character than the original little red (whatever her name was). Scarlet doesn't wait for a lumberjack to come save her, though a little help from one of the wolves never goes astray, and takes her fate into her own hands.

The story starts with the abduction of Scarlet's grandmother and her chance meeting with a man called Wolf who fights for a living, has never eaten tomato, and has a strange tattoo. While romance builds between the two, Cinder (from book one) is busy breaking out of prison with Captain Thorne and returning android, Iko, as companions. At the same time all of this is happening, Prince Kai attempts to avoid war with the Lunar queen after finding out she's building an army out of genetically modified citizens. The book is action-packed with side notes of romance and comedy. 

To sum it all up, Marissa Meyer did an excellent job with this sequel and I look forward to reading Cress and Winter (when it comes out in November!).  

A Book Set In The Future

So, here's the thing. I thought I had posted about this book before, but it turns out, I never got around to it. Oops. To be fair, I spent the last month (and pretty much the whole time I was reading these) travelling. Anyways, I finished Cress from the Lunar Chronicles and am excitedly awaiting the release of the last book in November!

This was an amazing book and once again I found myself blown away by Marissa Meyer's writing. I would one hundred percent recommend this series to anyone who's okay with waiting a couple months for the last book!

A Book Set in Another Country

For this item, I read Cinder by Marissa Meyer.

I've heard people talking about this book for a while now. I originally bought it back when I bought Emerald Green (in February, I believe?), but I had so much other stuff to read that I simply didn't get around to it until now. I started it less than a week ago and the first time I picked it up, I read one hundred and fifty pages. Skip forward five days and I've finished the almost 400 page book. So yes, it was good.

I liked Cinder because it was very suspenseful and quite a page turner. The main character, Cinder, was a bit preoccupied with silly things, but she was also smart and interesting. Starting with the fact that she's a cyborg. If you don't already know, Cinder puts a science fiction spin on the well known fairy tale, Cinderella. It's set in a fictional country in Asia, after World War IV. 

Cinder is brought up like Cinderella- an outcast in her own home, raised by a neglectful step mother with her two step sisters. Unlike Cinderella, she has no intention of going to the prince's ball. She's also a crazy talented mechanic. Throughout the book, she becomes a large part of the initiative to end the common and deadly illness, Letumosis. Meanwhile Prince Kai struggles to maintain peace with the queen of the Lunars- a mostly magical race of people that moved to the moon a while back.

One of the only problems I had with this book was that Cinder was a bit extreme. She was the best mechanic around (so amazing even the prince would seek her out), she was a cyborg and several other twists that I don't want to spoil, but add up to be quiet a lot of specialness in one person. 

However, I loved Meyer's writing. It was detailed enough for the images to be clear in my mind, yet simple enough to keep the story constantly moving. It's the kind of writing I aspire for. I'll definitely be looking for the rest of the books in the chronicles!

A Graphic Novel (Or Two Mangas!)

So you may have guessed by the title, but this is kind of a continuation of my last blog post. Since then, I have finished two more of the Black Butler books and I realized since they are shorter than your average book, I won't write a blog post for each one. I may do one more post where I can talk about the entire series if I finish it.

For now, look at the pretty covers of the two Mangas I just read.

The guy on the front is the slightly overpowered demon butler, Sebastian. Aside from a rather amusing typo in the third volume (I'm not sure if it occurred originally or during translation from Japanese), these two were just as entertaining as the first book. I don't want to go too into detail, because spoilers, but the end of the third book began to deviate from the show and I'm excited to see where that goes. Yana Toboso is a very talented artist and that made it all the more fun to read. 

Annoying side note, I tried to find these at the library I go to and the first eight were checked out! After that, the rest were there so I'm assuming someone checked out all eight books at once. Who does that? 

(That is from the anime.)

Alright, I hope this post was satisfactory and I'm off to read some more Black Butler digitally and maybe start Cinder or continue the second Game of Thrones books...

A Book Based on or Turned into a TV Show

Lately, I started watching an anime, a style of Japanese television animation) show called Black Butler. No, the title isn't racist! It's in reference to black magic. It's a horror and comedy show that captured my attention right away. So I decided I would try the manga, a style of Japanese comic books and graphic novels, for it.

Today, I started and finished Volume I.

It was about one hundred and eighty pages, but there are less words per page than traditional books. It was incredibly fun to read. The first volume was remarkably similar to the first three episodes which was a tiny bit annoying since I re-watched them yesterday. Anyways, it kept my attention all the same. 

I also realized the plethora of pictures make manga really fun to read. So if you're interested in trying something new and don't mind a bit of horror (it's much worse in the show- the book is mostly action), then definitely check out this book. 5 out of 5 stars.

A Mystery

I have come to the realization that there is absolutely no possible way for me to complete this challenge. Between high school, college, writing, socializing and every other little part of my life that keeps me busy, I don't have time to read a book every week. Nor do I have the desire to. My main goal with all of this was to read more and I feel confident that I'm accomplishing that.

Anyways, I didn't choose this book, my Dad surprised me with it. One day after school, he handed me Paper Towns by John Green.

Last summer, I read the Fault in our Stars and I loved it. I think I read it in a matter of days. So I was pretty excited to start this one. Especially since they're already making a movie for it.

However, I didn't find it as intriguing. It was well written and had some pretty funny parts sure, but I didn't feel the urge to constantly be reading it. A little past halfway it got more suspenseful and drew me in, but then at the ending I was still bored by it. I wouldn't say Paper Towns is a boring book, but it has a kind of slow pace and is very philosophical. Which is the very reason I would recommend it. It's the kind of book that makes you really think. I also liked the way Green crafted his characters. A lot of adult writers struggle with accurately portraying teenagers. This was not a problem with Paper Towns.

So if you're looking for something suspenseful and fast paced, this would not be the book for you. Still, you should give it a try at some point!

A Book by an Author You've Never Read Before

Hello, everyone! 

I realize I'm a bit behind on the challenge (three books to be exact) and therefore blog updates, but I'm doing the best I can. I actually read for well over an hour today to finish Keeping the Castle by Patrice Kindl.

There was a major problem I had with this book. This may not be the best way to start off a review, but I feel it should be addressed first because it came up throughout the book. The main characters are pretty poor. To the point where they can't afford to get their tapestries mended- or to even afford food regularly! Yet, they had thirty seven servants, one of which was a stable boy for the two horses they owned. The author attempted to explain how they kept the horses, one was a gift and one was bought by the rich stepsister who keeps her money locked away, but she seems to forget to explain the servants. If I knew how people who couldn't afford sugar or fresh tea could afford to have thirty seven servants, I may have enjoyed the book  more. It was something my mind kept going back to and I hoped at some point there would be an explanation... There wasn't.

Despite this issue, there were several aspects of Keeping the Castle that I enjoyed. A major one was Mr. Fredericks' character. At first he seemed aloof, almost like a carbon copy of Mr. Darcy from Pride and Prejudice (if you didn't get that reference immediately, shame on you). It wasn't long before I realized that wasn't it at all. Where Mr. Darcy is shy and proud, Mr. Fredericks' turned out to be awkward, outspoken and spontaneous. This is a common mix of traits for heroines these days, but seem to be rare in male characters. It was a refreshing change and I found him to be my favorite character, although the main one, Althea, grew on me towards the end. 

The story was an interesting idea, but it fell a bit short. There was only one major plot twist and the romantic aspects were hard to follow. It reminded me a bit of A Midsummer Night's Dream in that it was difficult to tell which secondary characters were going to end up together. I couldn't tell who wanted to marry who for what reasons for most of the book! The ending was pretty cute, albeit hasty and a bit clumsy.

I gave Keeping the Castle three stars on Goodreads, but I would only recommend it if you don't mind little plot holes and a bit of confusion in your romantic comedies.

I hope to read the next book item quickly and update soon, but we'll see!

A Book You Can Read In A Day

Yesterday I wrote a blog post about how I was falling behind, so I figured as a start to getting back on track, I would attempt this challenge. It seemed relatively easy and it was!

The book I selected was part of a collection of books I downloaded from Amazon for free; this is the cover.

At only 17,000 words, I knew this would be a fast read and it ended up taking me about forty minutes total. The item asked for a book you could read in a day and with my busy days, this is pretty much the only one I could. It was short and sweet (a comedy/ paranormal story) and very fun to read.

I almost wish it were longer, because the plot felt a bit rushed and there were some relationships I would've liked to read more about, but that's just because it was a short story which was kind of the point! 

If you're ever looking for a cute story to read in the breaks of your busy day, I would one hundred percent suggest this. Although, it's best read on Halloween, as suggested by the title.

I'm so glad I was able to read today and post another update!  

Not the Post I Hoped to Post

I know this post is late, I’m so sorry, I promised one earlier, but I’m behind on the reading challenge so this happened. I still haven’t actually finished another book, because I had to quit reading the last one I chose. It wasn’t bad, but it was a horror story that I accidentally picked out in a rush. This is it.

I thought I would read it for the ‘a book that scares you’ item, but it was too freaky. As I’m currently living with a clinical anxiety disorder, I don’t really need more fear in my life. So not even halfway through I gave up, it hurt too much to read it. If you enjoy horror books, it did seem well written and you may be interested in giving it a try!

Before that, I was sick again- a major reason I haven’t read more. It ruined my Valentine’s Day and made me feel like doing nothing. I’ve hardly read this month and it sucks and I’m already failing, but I’m not going to give up. Hopefully the next post will be an actual book review.

A Book Based Entirely on its Cover

I apologize for this post being a bit late, but I got sick last weekend and put off everything, including reading. I'm a little behind on the challenge, but I'm sure I can get caught up!

Alright, for this item, I looked through a few books at the library and selected Revived by Cat Patrick, because, well, just look at this cover.

The book turned out to be about a girl who is part of a secret government program that invented a medicine to bring people back after they die, assuming they had no preexisting medical conditions such as cancer. It started out slow and focused on Daisy's life and reminded me of a lot of stories I've read on Wattpad. And then it got darker. I don't want to spoil anything, but God, the nickname of the person in charge of the program, isn't as saintly as Daisy, or any of the readers, would like to imagine. Daisy is a memorable character with real flaws and her own choices. Revived pretty accurately portrays teen life while asking important questions about life and death.

Overall, Revived was a great book, the kind that I read for hours yesterday because I couldn't put it down, I just had to know where it was going. I would recommend to anyone who likes teen fiction and suspense.

A Trilogy

For the trilogy item, I read the Ruby Read Trilogy by Kerstin Gier. How did I choose this trilogy? I picked a book at random from the library and it happened to be the first book of three already published books. A very well thought out method, don't you think?

The first book is called Ruby Red.

When I started this book, I didn't like it much. The plot was moving along at a snail's pace and the main character, Gwenyth, was not the sharpest tool in the shed. She bordered on being ridiculously  stupid and it was difficult to tell if it was intentional. However, I stuck with it.

I spent most of the book only partly enjoying it- until the last two chapters. This was where it finally picked up the pace and the romance started developing and Gwenyth finally became her own individual rather than a silly shadow of her reasonably brighter best friend. I swear most of the book was 'Lesley said this' and 'Lesley thought that' and 'Lesley always said this'. Like I said though, it got better around the end before dropping off in a cliffhanger which was probably the reason I decided to continue the series. 

The second book is Sapphire Blue.

Right from the start, this book was better than the first. Although I could be biased because the first chapter had more romance than the entire first book. However, almost every aspect of the book seemed more coherent and interesting. Gwenyth was portrayed as adorably naive rather then infuriatingly dull and she finally became independent of Lesley. Another thing I loved about this book was the introduction of the character Xemerius, the ghost of a gargoyle that had long since been destroyed. He provided comic relief and helped move the plot along several times. He easily became my favorite character. Sapphire Blue, like Ruby Red, ended in a cliff hanger that the third book will hopefully wrap up for good.

The final book in the series is Emerald Green.

The first picture is the copy that looks like the others, the second is the copy that I bought at Barnes and Nobles because they didn't have it at either library I go to. I'm going to talk about the book in a second, but first, I want to talk about the exciting adventure I went on to pick up this book. I was at Star Co Coffee with my mom and her friend, playing scrabble and waiting for the library across the street to open. It just so happened, a movie was being filmed in the street between the cafe and the library. And it was starring actor Johnathon Bennett who played Aaron in Mean Girls. We even got a picture with him!

Okay, onto the book review part.
I loved this book. It was excellent. The ending was a bit odd, but somehow it worked with the writing style. The ending was nicely wrapped up and the characters were so nicely developed I think I'mm going to miss them. Emerald Green was overall cover to cover amazingness and I recommend the series to anyone.
Onto a new book and author!

52 Books in 2015

I was at my public library the first day of 2015 to write with my dad like we do every week when I saw an interesting board pinned up in the Teen Area. It was a list of types of books to read in 2015. It had 50 items on it, one of which was a trilogy which adds up to 52 books total.

(I will post a link to where I typed up the list at the end of the article so it's easier to read.)

In 2014 I feel like I spent less time than I would have liked reading actual books and too much time reading fan fiction. I decided to take up this challenge as a way to ween myself off my slight addiction to fan fiction, because I used to love reading and because as an author I need to do more reading than what I've been doing. And what better way to stick with it than blogging about it?

Because it's 52 books, that means a book every week and right now I'm close to where I should be. I started with reading a trilogy and I'm 2 books into it as well as the read a book with more than 500 pages and I'm about 200 into that. I plan to write more about the types of books I'm reading in individual posts about the specific items on the list. This post was mainly just to describe the challenge and share my new years resolution. Maybe I can convince a few of you to join me?

I don't know if I'll manage to read all 52 books with starting my first college classes in January and attending high school as well as everything else in life, but I'm going to try. As long as I end up reading more than I did last year, I'll be happy.
I hope you enjoyed reading this and here is a link to the challenge.