January 2018 TBR List: Voting time!

My TBR list (#MyTBRL) is a meme hosted by Michelle at Because Reading which aims to help knock a few books off our TBR piles by letting everyone else vote on what we should read!

I’ve got a few books on my currently-reading shelf which I haven’t really made much progress with, I think because I’m just not far enough into them to get hooked yet.  I’m putting them up to a vote and hoping the TBR vote can push me to get far enough into one of them that I get engrossed!

 

Mistborn #2: The Well of Ascension

Vin, the street urchin who has grown into the most powerful Mistborn in the land, and Elend Venture, the idealistic young nobleman who loves her, must build a healthy new society in the ashes of an empire. Three separate armies attack. As the siege tightens, an ancient legend seems to offer a glimmer of hope. But even if it really exists, no one knows where to find the Well of Ascension or what manner of power it bestows.

 

 

Renegades

Secret identities. Extraordinary powers.
She wants vengeance. He wants justice.

The Renegades are a syndicate of prodigies―humans with extraordinary abilities―who emerged from the ruins of a crumbled society and established peace and order where chaos reigned. As champions of justice, they remain a symbol of hope and courage to everyone . . . except the villains they once overthrew.

Nova has a reason to hate the Renegades, and she is on a mission for vengeance. As she gets closer to her target, she meets Adrian, a Renegade boy who believes in justice―and in Nova. But Nova’s allegiance is to a villain who has the power to end them both.

 

Lost Boy

There is one version of my story that everyone knows. And then there is the truth. This is how it happened. How I went from being Peter Pan’s first—and favorite—lost boy to his greatest enemy.

Peter brought me to his island because there were no rules and no grownups to make us mind. He brought boys from the Other Place to join in the fun, but Peter’s idea of fun is sharper than a pirate’s sword. Because it’s never been all fun and games on the island. Our neighbors are pirates and monsters. Our toys are knife and stick and rock—the kinds of playthings that bite.

Peter promised we would all be young and happy forever.

 

 

 

 

Which book should I read for the January TBR vote?

  • Lost Boy (50%, 3 Votes)
  • Renegades (33%, 2 Votes)
  • The Well of Ascension (Mistborn #2) (17%, 1 Votes)

Total Voters: 6

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Thank you for voting! Next week I’ll check in to let you know which book won!

Ten books I read and loved before I started blogging

Top Ten Tuesday is a feature hosted at The Broke and The Bookish where they post a list idea and everyone is welcome to post the list with their own answers. This week is a throwback freebie so I’ve gone with Ten books I read and loved before I started blogging.

First fantasy favourites

My fantasy obsession started as a kid with Harry Potter & David Eddings, and it’s only grown bigger since. I still love fantasy books with assassins, like Throne of Glass and Graceling, and I’m pretty sure that started with Silk from The Belgariad, continued on with Fitz in Assassin’s Apprentice and was reinforced with Poison Study. I absolutely can’t resist anything with a dragon, and I’m pretty sure both the Dragonlance books and the Song of Ice and Fire series (as well as later Robin Hobb books) played a huge role in that.  Kelley Armstrong’s Bitten is the odd one out of the group as the only urban fantasy, a genre I don’t reach for that often now, but I still remember reading and adoring this, and I keep telling myself one day I’ll make it to the end of the series…

The dystopia obsession begins

I picked up Uglies first and was absolutely hooked. Once I finished that  I snatched up anything I could find that was similar, which led me to both The Hunger Games and the Delirium series, both of which went on to become favourites (though Requiem was a bit of a let down if I’m honest).

Which pre-blogging books remain your favourites?


Ten books I disliked initially but ended up pleasantly surprised by

Top Ten Tuesday is a feature hosted at The Broke and The Bookish where they post a list idea and everyone is welcome to post the list with their own answers. This week’s theme is “Top Ten….Books you had a hard time with“.  I didn’t want to do just books I decided to DNF, because that’s a bit depressing, but I’m also not sure I can think of 10 books I’ve DNF’d but then gone back to love, so I’ve tweaked the theme a little, to Ten Books I disliked initially, but ended up being pleasantly surprised by.

Pre-reading prejudice

Wolf of the Plains – This is one of the very first books I can think of where my initial snap-judgement was totally wrong. This was recommended to me, and I promptly turned my nose up – Genghis Khan? I knew literally nothing about him, but I knew I didn’t read historical fiction. That remained true, until I got nagged into reading this by the person who’d recommended it, and I ended up loving it. I still don’t read much historical fiction, but I don’t dismiss it straight out of hand any more, and this remains one of my favourite books.

Am I normal yet? – Contemporary? Not my thing, and I found Holly Bourne’s covers kind of cheesy-looking if I’m 100% honest. I picked this up after reading the third book in the series, and ended up being very pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed both.

Graceling – I missed this when it initially came out, and by the time I got around to it, I’d sort of decided in my head that you were a fan of Graceling OR of Throne of Glass – and I loved Throne of Glass. How could Graceling compare? (Or, a tiny part of me worried, what if I loved it and ended up hating Throne of Glass?). Slightly irrational? Absolutely, but it did put me off for ages. When I finally picked it up, I loved it, and I discovered that I didn’t have to pick one over the other – I could just love both (I don’t know why I ever thought this would be an issue to be honest, but I did).

Harry Potter & The Cursed Child – Oh the fear of this one. The epilogue of Harry Potter is my least favourite part – I regularly tell people I’d rather just ignore it’s existence and pretend it never happened. How could I possibly like a story about the ridiculously named children, born of all the canon-pairings? I’m a fanon shipper all the way, and I resented that JKR hadn’t let us go off and make our own endings, but I knew I’d get spoiled for this so I picked it up to at least make my own mind up. I ended up actually really enjoying it (and Scorpius is awesome).

Daughter of Smoke and Bone – Demons and romance? BORING AND CHEESY. Er, wait, actually, when I finally picked it up I burned through all three books rapidly and Laini Taylor went onto the list of favourite authors. Oops.

Didn’t like on first attempt

The Lord of the Rings – This is still probably never going to make it on to my list of favourite books, but I enjoyed it SO MUCH MORE when I picked it up at the right time. The first time, I didn’t even finish the first book. Second time, I made it part way through The Two Towers before I decided it was too much like hard work. Third time, I read through the whole lot in one go.

A Game of Thrones – I picked this up and thought “It’s another Tolkien. Everything is so slow, and boring, and so damn wordy.” I came back a year later and absolutely devoured the series, couldn’t get enough of it. Now an absolute favourite.

Fool’s Errand – I know, I know, this one seems weird. I’ve loved everything I’ve ever read by Robin Hobb, and the Fool is my favourite character, how was this not an instant favourite? I don’t know either, all I know is that I absolutely loved these when I came back to them a second time (AFTER reading the Liveship Traders) I enjoyed them a lot more, even though the recommended reading order is these first and the Liveships later.

A Discovery of Witches – Too urban, too modern, too cliche-romance, I didn’t even make it through the first chapter the first time.  After someone recommended it to me I went back and gave it another go and got engrossed.

The Final Empire – I started this on audiobook the first time, and I couldn’t get on with it AT ALL – I ended up returning it to audible because it was all so bleak, and depressing, and I found the narrator just put me to sleep (definitely a personal preference, I know lots of people love him). I picked it up in paperback a few years later though and really enjoyed it.

Which books did you dismiss out of hand but end up loving? And have you ever had a book you initially dislike turn into a favourite, or am I being very weird?


Binge Watchers #2: Greys Anatomy S6 & 7

What I was binging last time…

Attack on Titan season 2.

In six words or less: Humanity is threatened by people-eating Titans.

Progress since last time: Episodes 2-6.  I used to always watch anime subbed, but then I figured that if I watched it dubbed I could multitask, drafting blog posts or blog commenting or twittering at the same time, and I’ve since gotten lazy. When I was watching Attack on Titan Season 2, only up to episode 6 had been released dubbed, so I came to a stop with my binge watch…I should really check and see if anymore dubbed episodes are available (or just take a little bit of time out to watch it without multitasking!)

 

Currently Binging

Grey’s Anatomy.

In six words or less: Medical drama filled with twisty relationships.

Why I’m watching it: I used to watch Grey’s when the first few seasons were on TV, but I missed the episode after a big cliffhanger (S6, E23) and didn’t want to jump back in further ahead, so I just stopped watching. I’ve now started again from the beginning and am totally addicted.

Where I’ve got to so far

As of our last binge-watching update, I was coming up to season 6… I’m now halfway through Season 8. I’m still pretty addicted to it to be honest!

But I want more! [Related stuff and similar shows]


For more Grey’s Anatomy….There’s a spin-off show focusing around Addison (who I quite like) but I’m not sure I fancy it – I’m invested in Grey’s because I’ve already got this far and got hooked, but I’m not sure I want to get hooked on something else so similar! I also know there’s an upcoming spin-off based around the firefighters – maybe by the time that gets here I’ll be ready to get sucked back into Seattle!

For more Shonda Rhimes… Getting Away with Murder – I’ve actually already seen the first two seasons of this with my family. First season was awesome, second season slightly less so.  I hear good things about Scandal but no luck talking the family into it, and I already have plenty of shows lined up on my to-binge-on-my-own list, so I don’t know if I’ll ever get to this.

What’s up next?

Since my last update, I’ve finished Pretty Little Liars, and caught up to date with Agents of SHIELD & Doctor Who. Next up will be The Defenders for sure.

Currently watching but not binging: Nashville

Harry Potter MotW: Favourite Dean Moment

[This post is a response to Harry Potter Moment of the Week and part of Harry Potter Month!]

The theme of this week’s Harry Potter Moment of the Week isFavorite Dean Moment

So, confession, I love Dean but I think a lot of that comes from fanfiction (Dean/Seamus shipping anyone?!), because I struggled a little to come up with a favourite moment for Dean. Of course I did come up with one, it just took me a moment 😉

We’re fighting, aren’t we? The message said Harry was back, and we were going to fight! I’ll have to get a wand, though…

Offering to fight, against literally the most dangerous enemies possible, with no wand? I poke fun at Gryffindors for being reckless (comes with the Slytherin territory I guess) but this to me is just the absolute perfect expression of Gryffindor courage. I don’t think Dean volunteers to fight without a wand because he thinks it’ll be cool, or epic, or heroic, or anything like that, I think it just genuinely doesn’t occur to him that he’d let his friends fight without him.
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