  • Book Chat

    November 2018 Book Chat

    *This post contains my current reads for November 2018. I post these Current Reads articles around the middle of every month and they are inspired by Anne Bogel @ modernmrsdarcy.com I hope you all have had a great reading month so far. If not, we still have half of November left!

    November 2018 Book Chat

    Here are the great books I’ve read recently. 

    current reads, november 2018

    The first book I finished this month is The City of Mirrors by Justin Cronin. 

    I loved this book so so much. It was the perfect ending for this trilogy. My reader heart is very satisfied with this one. Justin is a master of description. This book wasn’t boring. It was beautiful. I was engrossed in the story from the first page. 

    The second book I completed was Think Learn Succeed by Dr. Caroline Leaf.

    This is a non-fiction science/mental health book. I really really enjoyed reading this book. I actually love all of her books even though they are very sciency. My mind was blown consistently throughout. The one thing I can say is not to take a month long break before you finish the book. I now have to read it again, but I’m ok with that. I actually want to read it again!

    current reads, november 2018

    The third book I read this month was A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas.

    I am in love with Rhysand. That is all. Goodbye.

    But really, I loved this book so very very much. If anything happens to Rhysand I will die and Sarah J. Maas will be guilty of murder. 💔

    current reads, november 2018

    The fourth book I have (kinda) read so far this month is Cozy Minimalist Home by Myquillyn Smith.

    This book is a beautiful and practical guide to making your home minimal but without the industrial starkness of “traditional” minimalism. Hence the title Cozy Minimalist Home. I love me a cozy house, but I also love me a home with no clutter. 

    Conclusion

    That’s my current reads list for November 2018 so far.

    I’m not very good at talking about books. I don’t like “reviewing” them because I don’t feel that it’s my job to put my opinion of a book in a reader’s head. I want them to experience it for themselves and then they can make a decision on whether they liked it or not. I can let you know if I liked it or not though. And I can let you look it up on Goodreads or Amazon if you so desire. 

    Also, I do not recommend reading reviews of a book after you just finished it. Especially if you LOVED it. Someone out there will be dragging it through the dirt and it will make you feel like maybe you aren’t a good reader, and how could you be so gullible to the writer’s whims, and maybe the book isn’t as good as you thought. Just save yourself the heartache and DON’T read the reviews.

    Because none of the stuff that the reviewer said about your FAVORITE book is true about you. You read the book and it was your experience that matters. Not that psycho reviewer on Goodreads whom you now want to stab in their sleep. I personally never read reviews. I don’t watch them on booktube either. I don’t like reading a synopsis of a book either. I want to go in totally blind. It’s the best that way. 

    Don’t let the evil book reviewers get you down!

    Sorry, that turned into a crazy rant. I’ve been thinking about this whole “reviewers dragging books though the mud” thing all morning. I think I might just have to write a post about it. Something like the Readers Bill of Rights. Here’s what we want as readers and don’t any of you evil readers take these rights away from us! LOL. I am being a little extra. But maybe not, you know?

    What do you think? Should I create a Reader’s Bill of Rights? If you don’t care I’m still going to do it. Actually if you don’t care that just means you are one of those readers who thinks your word is scripture and you want to shove all of your book opinions down people’s throats. 

    Oops. Went ranting again. Sorry.

    Anyway, I hope you all have a lovely day. American Thanksgiving is right around the corner, and then it’s basically Christmas!

    Can you tell I’m excited?

    Happy reading,

    Alicen

    P.S. I am sorry about the rant. I’m going to take that info and turn it into a blog post real soon. 😄

    P.P.S. Here is the link to my full November 2018 TBR.

  • Monthly TBRs

    November 2018 TBR

    *Today is the first day of November! All you book lovers know what that means. New TBRs! I have just a few books on my list this month. With the holidays just around the corner I’ll be surprised if I get more than what’s on my TBR finished. 

    November 2018 Book Recommendations

    My November Reading List

    Although my book list is small it’s filled with some quite hefty books. I am really excited to read all of them, but the top of the list is A Court of Mist and Fury. I read A Court of Thorns and Roses last month for the #charmsextracredit. I loved it! I read it in about a day which is impressive for me considering I have two littles 5 and under. Let’s just say the interruptions are non-stop. 

    Anyway, you don’t want to know that. You want to see what my tbr looks like for the month of November 2018.

    The first book on my list is The City of Mirrors by Justin Cronin.

    This book was on my tbr for last month but I just didn’t get to it. It’s the third and final book in The Passage series. I’ve never read this one so I’m very excited to dig into this one. I have high expectations for this book and I don’t think I’ll be disappointed.

    Next up is A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas.

    I know everyone is all in a rage over Kingdom of Ash. I’ve yet to dig into that series so I’m not really sure what all the fuss is about. Please don’t hate me for not reading it yet. 

    Third on my list is The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss.

    I have been wanting to read this book for a few month now. I have no idea what this book is about and I like to keep it that way. I’m so bad about this. Like I don’t even want to know the names of the characters. Just tell me if you liked the book or not and I’ll give it a go. No need to spoil everything for me. 

    Fourth on my list is A Darker Shade of Magic by V. E. Schwab.

    I was lucky enough to pick up the special edition of this book from bookoutlet.com for cheap. It’s beautiful and I so can’t wait to read this one!

    The last book on my list is a non-fiction book.

    The Read-Aloud Family is written by Sarah McKenzie. In it she goes over how to start a culture of reading in your family no matter what age your kids are. And it’s full of lists of age appropriate books that you can read aloud with your kids. Since my boys are 5 and 2 I felt like there’s never a better time to start than now.


    Happy Reading Friends!

    That’s it for my November TBR. I’m trying to keep it low key this month and I picked all new reads because I know I’ll be able to get through them all. I love to re-read my favorite stories but I don’t go through them as fast because I already know what happens. The hunt for the conclusion isn’t as strong with re-reads. Unless, you know, it’s been a decade since I last read it. 

    Thanks for reading,
    Alicen

    P.S. What’s on the top of your TBR for November? Let me know in the comments or on Instagram!

    P.P.S. Check out my October Wrap Up and Book Haul here!

  • Monthly TBRs

    October 2018 Book Recommendations

    *Disclaimer: I am having a lot of trouble getting book covers to format correctly with Gutenberg. So this post has no actual pictures, but each book is linked to Book Depository. (These are not affiliate links. It’s just a way for you to see the cover images until I can figure out Gutenberg.) I really pick books based on their covers so if you’re like me just click the links to see all the pretty covers.*

    Book recommendations for October 2018

    It’s officially fall. I’m so excited for the change in season. The fuzzy socks, comfy pants, and never ending cups of coffee are in full effect. So are all the yummy smelling candles and cuddly blankets.

    It’s my favorite season of the year. The leaves changing colors and the cool air just give me a bad case of wanderlust. Because it’s hard for me to spend all my time driving around and seeing things, I use books as a major means of “travel” this time of year.

    Fantasy has long been my go-to genre. I love reading about different worlds and the people that live in them. I’m not a big fan of a lot of contemporary fiction. By contemporary fiction, I mean anything that’s set in the 21st century. If I wanted to read about any of that stuff I’d just sit on Facebook for about a day. I really love books that are realistic but not totally real. Like Harry Potter or The Passage. I also love historical fiction. (Side Note: I just finished The Women In the Castle and, WOW! I loved that book!) So the books can be newly published just not too realistic or contemporary in their themes. 

    Enough of my rambling about what books I like to read. 

    Here’s my list of 10 books I would like to read in October. If I don’t finish them in October I will be trying desperately to finish them before Thanksgiving. 

    Here are the books on my Fall TBR:

    The Passage
    By: Justin Cronin
    I would consider this book a spooky literary thriller. It’s been a really long time since I read this one. I kind of remember it. The fact that it’s sitting on my shelf means the I cared a lot about the story and the characters. I just can’t put my finger on why I loved it. I mean, I loved the characters and the plot was really good. It’s just a really good, well-written book.


    The Twelve
    By: Justin Cronin
    This is the second book in The Passage trilogy. I’ve only read this book once and I barely remember it. It was sad but I loved it just as much as The Passage. It’s been a while since I read it, but the writing style is comparable to All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr.


    The City of Mirrors
    By: Justin Cronin
    The third book in The Passage trilogy. I haven’t read this one yet, but I did jump up and down when I found a hardback copy in a secondhand store for $2.00. My husband thinks I’m the crazy book lady, but I don’t care.


    Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
    By: J.K. Rowling
    These books need no explanation for being on my TBR. It’s fall and it’s Harry Potter. Enough said.


    Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
    By: J.K. Rowling

    Again, Harry Potter doesn’t need an explanation to be on my TBR.


    Charms Extra Credit (Magical Readathon)

    *@book_roast is putting out a mini readathon challenge next week! for all us Harry Potter Nerds. I’m not going to spend any time explaining it so here’s the link to her video that will give you all the details.

    The Selection
    By: Kiera Cass
    (Alohamora)
    I’ve known about this series for a long while now, but I’ve never really been interested. I thought they were typical YA Fiction. My interest in reading this changed dramatically when I learned from a really reliable source (A.K.A. Modern Mrs. Darcy) that the story is loosely based on Esther from the Bible. Luckily for me my local library has the entire series on it’s shelves.


    Fire Bringer
    By: David Clement-Davies
    (Incendio)
    I’ve read this book a couple times. It’s a great spooky book about a prophecy and it’s about animals. I should clarify and say intelligent animals. Think Lion King, but the deer version. It’s a lot more intense than Lion King and definitely not for young readers. It is extremely well written fantasy.


    Nyxia
    By: Scott Reintgen
    (Lumos)
    I don’t know much about this book other than it sounded interesting to me. It was recommended by @book_roast.


    Life and Death
    By: Stephenie Meyer
    (Accio)
    Back in high school, I was a die hard Twilight fan. I’ve read a lot of bad reviews about this book but it’s short enough that I’m going to try it out. I’m not afraid to DNF a book, even if it is Twilight.


    A Court of Thorns and Roses
    By: Sarah J. Maas
    (Rictumsempra)
    Everyone raves about this series. I know I’m really late to the game but I’m okay with that because it just means I don’t have to wait for the rest of the series to come out. It’s always nice to find a great series and be able to binge read them!


    So what does your Fall TBR look like? Just a few favorites to re-read or a stack of new hot titles? Let me know in the comments below!

    Until next time,
    Alicen
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