Bout of Books 11.0 First Update

I've decided to play along with a blogging "read-a-thon" happening Aug 18th thru Aug 24th, hosted by Bout of Books (another great book blog). 

***UPDATE 1***

I've finished "The Witch and Other Stories Told", review to come middle of September. 

I haven't even picked up "The Dialogue of Dogs" again, I'm halfway through this novella so it shouldn't be a problem?! 

I started Atwood's new story collection but decided I was reading TOO many short story collections at the same time. I've put it on hold until after I finish reading a different ebook I've selected, called....

"The Princess Bride"! Eeek, squeal, bounce,  I'm loving this book. The humor is excellent and matches the feel of the movie *Just makes me think of how WELL the movie did recreating the story from this book*.

 

I've picked up the next ARC from my giant stack I picked up from Book Expo America. I'm super excited for this one and I might just come home today from work and spend the rest of the afternoon reading it! "Station Eleven" by Emily St. John Mandel  

The Friday 56 - Aug 8th 2014 - AmberBug

The Friday 56

Meet The Friday 56, a meme we found on Freda's Voice (another great book blog). The rules are as follows:

Welcome to Week 190!

Rules:
*Grab a book, any book.
*Turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader
(If you have to improvise, that's ok.)
 *Find any sentence, (or few, just don't spoil it) that grab you.
*Post it.
*Add your (url) post below in Linky. Add the post url, not your blog url. It's that simple.

Neverhome by Laird Hunt

The outlaws had set our Springfields and cartridge bags by the door to the kitchen and we picked them up. On the way out one of us, might have been me, knocked over the last lit lamp in the house. Instead of putting our boots to the fire we walked on away and let it burn.

*This book is about a woman who leaves her husband to become a soldier in the Civil War.
I actually haven't gotten as far as that quote above, but so far the book is really intriguing. She has managed to fool everyone into believing shes male. I love the male interaction from the under-cover female perspective.

The Friday 56 - July 18th 2014 - Arianna

The Friday 56

Meet The Friday 56, a meme we found on Freda's Voice (another great book blog). The rules are as follows:

Welcome to Week 187!

Rules:
*Grab a book, any book.
*Turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader
(If you have to improvise, that's ok.)
 *Find any sentence, (or few, just don't spoil it) that grab you.
*Post it.
*Add your (url) post below in Linky. Add the post url, not your blog url. It's that simple.

"She's as frail and ivory-colored as a comatose princess, slumbering through decades, waiting for the spell to be broken."

(This scene is describing Barrett, one of the main characters, looking in on his sister-in-law as she sleeps, fighting off the cancer that is consuming her.  The book is full of amazing imagery which transfers the reader regularly to fairy tale lands, for the briefest of instants.  Also, wanna know something kind of funny?  I'm on page 156 right now - exactly 100 pages from this spot.  Also weird?  There are exactly 256 pages in this book. If I were a more superstitious person, I'd consider that some sort of sign!)

The Friday 56 - July 18th 2014 - AmberBug

The Friday 56

Meet The Friday 56, a meme we found on Freda's Voice (another great book blog). The rules are as follows:

Welcome to Week 187!

Rules:
*Grab a book, any book.
*Turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader
(If you have to improvise, that's ok.)
 *Find any sentence, (or few, just don't spoil it) that grab you.
*Post it.
*Add your (url) post below in Linky. Add the post url, not your blog url. It's that simple.

The Unfinished Life of Addison Stone

By the time I said "Come back home to me," Addison had starved herself.
She looked like a prisoner of war, a skeleton in a T-Shirt.

*The book is all about the death of Addison Stone, getting to the bottom of it. This is done through interviews that include multimedia within the pages (pictures, articles, etc...) I think this is a style that is becoming more popular in fiction and I gobble it up (most of the time it warrants the gobbling, but can also be subject to getting too cliche). So far, this book is really interesting and fun.

Top 10 Tuesday - Blogging Confessions - AmberBug

Top Ten Tuesday from "The Broke and the Bookish"

This will be my fourth contribution to "Top Ten Tuesday" from The Broke and Bookish. We've been told to confess all our blogging secrets!  

  

#10.  Designing a Logo for the blog 

I've been meaning to work on a logo for the blog FOR the longest time. There are a few things putting this on hold but the biggest one has to be coming up with the design itself. The idea for the logo needs to be collaborated with my friend and blogging partner, Arianna (yes, you all know who she is). To be honest though, when we do find time to get together it usually revolves around "real life" fun, not so much blogging. So, this has been a project that needs a designated day of brainstorming, hopefully to come out with the perfect logo (Since this will be our branding, we have to take EXTRA care to get it right). Once we get the concept down, it should be smooth sailing?! Haha, yeah right.

#9. Honest but staying 'true to myself' book reviews

I try to find something nice to say about every book I review (this pertains to books I didn't really like). I'm not a mean person, so why would I be that way online? My online personality should reflect the same if you met me in real life, or I'd like to think so. I like to show my true self online and if being nice makes me a bad/untrustworthy critic, so be it. BUT, to be fair, everything I write reflects my truth.

#8. AmberBug is just my nickname

Sorry to tell you, my mother didn't add "bug" to the end of my name, that was done by the nickname generator of life. It derives from the definition of my actual name "Amber", which is defined as a pale yellow, sometimes reddish or brownish, fossil resin. As many probably know, "Amber" is notorious for trapping bugs in it's sap. The substance people! Not me!

#7. Games over reading/blogging? Yeah, I do that sometimes

So yeah, sometimes I pick up the joystick over the book (maybe not the joystick but the mouse since I game mostly on my computer). Yes, reading is the most important hobby I have but does it have to be the only one? Nah, I like to lay down the book and kick some ass on the keyboard sometimes. Anybody up for a dungeon in WOW? Let's do this!

#6. Sometime I take the lazy road

Amber?! Lazy? Well, for example... last week I did the "Top 10" and I knew the post could have been better formatted (pictures formatted so they sat next to the text) and/or linked those pictures up with amazon (maybe make a few cents in case someone was so inclined to click and buy?), BUT I didn't. Just... sometimes I want to blog but I don't want to blog for two freakin hours! I don't think there's anything wrong with that?!

#5. I secretly wish the blog had more followers

I know that's not what blogging is all about, and I don't think that BUT who doesn't want to know people out there read your stuff. It would be nice to see people "committing" to the blog. Oh look, up there... it says "click" to follow... yes, right there... go ahead, click it!

#4. I don't like to blog on the weekends

The weekends might be when I have the most time to spare for writing, but I like having my weekends free! Free to read, relax, game and do 'real life' things with friends and family. Call me crazy but I think that might be called "having a life". I'll stick to blogging during the week and keeping my weekends for finishing those books.

#3. Do I really have to think of the last three?

This is the list that never ends! Oh, it goes on and on my friends! Okay, so that leads to my next confession (I guess). Sometimes I go into a post with full enthusiasm but feel tortured by the end of it. I think that could be normal though, everyone gets tired of writing right?

#2. This blog is only a YEAR old!

We've been at this for only about a year! Shhh... don't tell anyone! Okay, so there are ways to check, I know that silly. However, I'd like to think our age doesn't glow in NEON all over the blog. I don't want to be that "thirty" year old blog that walks into a bar and gets carded. NO! I want to be the "Eighteen" year old that struts in and gets served right away. Just to be clear on this, I don't want that for myself... just the blog.

#1. I congratulate myself and YOU make me smile

Huge confession... after I finish a post, I fist pump the air and pat myself on the back. Hehe, yeah not really... that would look silly *looks around to see it anybody saw that*. I do, however, check the stats multiple times and SMILE when I see the views grow. Thanks to all of you who reads this blog... and just remember, you've made me SMILE!

 

Top 10 Tuesday - Classic Books - Arianna

Top Ten Tuesday from "The Broke and the Bookish"

Yay, my first contribution to "Top Ten Tuesday" from The Broke and Bookish! Amber has gotten me all into them.  

I'll start with my Favorites.  The question is always, first, what IS a "classic"? I wasn't even sure when I was thinking of favorite books; I selected those which I thought were widely considered to have stood the test of time (to some extent, at least) and have been beloved by many.  (What I find most interesting is how there are always, always lovers AND haters of every book!)  I don't know whether these all count as "classic" - and I have many OTHER favorite books, too, of course.  So this is just the list I came up with first, in no particular order:

1. The Count of Monte Cristo
   Alexandre Dumas
   
2. A Confederacy of Dunces
   John Kennedy O'Toole
   
3. The Outsiders
   S.E. Hinton
   
4. Great Expectations
   Charles Dickens
   
5. The Merchant of Venice
   William Shakespeare
   
6. Candide
   Francois Voltaire
   
7. Atlas Shrugged & The Fountainhead
   Ayn Rand
   
8. Swann's Way
   Marcel Proust
   
9. Mildred Pierce
   James M. Cain
   
   (Wait wait...they made a series out of this?! When?)
   
10. The Brothers Karamazov
    Fyodor Dostoyevsky
    

I also love how books can be favorites based entirely on when you read them; the converse is also true, so a book I might love now or did love once might not be a favorite at another time.  That stuff absolutely fascinates me.

Now, though, on to my To-Reads!  I based this list off of this list, created by readers on GoodReads.  I figured that was a good place to be reminded of all the classics I hadn't yet read, and that a general concensus on "classic" would probably be my best bet.  I was shocked by how many I'd already read!  But here, again in no particular order, are a few I've yet to get to:

1. Anna Karenina / War and Peace (Leo Tolstoy)
   I think Tolstoy is one of the few Big Authors that I haven’t yet read anything from.  I’ve started Anna!  But I’ve yet to finish it, as promising as its beginning was.
2. Ulysses (James Joyce)
   I keep wanting to crack this one’s cover, but I just cannot bring myself to.  I’m too scared!  I will never stop wanting to try, though.
3. East of Eden (John Steinbeck) I still remember flying to Florida just before New Year's Eve, 2003-04, and meeting a guy on the place who was reading this. He loved it. I've had it in my to-read pile ever since....
4. The Diary of a Young Girl (Anne Frank)
   I know, I know.  I haven’t read this one?!  But we were never assigned it in high school, and then I just never read it afterwards, I guess because it was such a high school institution.  I’ve always wanted to, though, and even more so since The Fault in Our Stars.  I just didn’t want to admit I hadn’t.  Now that you all know, though, I can finally rid myself of the need to hide my shame, and read it!  I can’t wait.
5. Oliver Twist (Charles Dickens) I began reading this in the summer of 2001, when I was living in France. I still have my copy in French. I still have *every* intent of reading it in French. For no other reason than that I own that copy...and I'd like to think I can still read French that well!
6. Madame Bovary (Gustave Flaubert) / The Phantom of the Opera (Gaston Leroux) I grouped these two totally different classics together because I want to read them in French, too. After all, it's what they were written in.
7. The Color Purple (Alice Walker) Just one I've always wanted to read.
8. Rebecca (Daphne Du Maurier) Ditto, especially since we watched the movie in my arts summer camp back in 1998.
9. The Time Machine (HG Wells) A sci-fi classic, that I really should read since they filmed the beginning of the most recent remake at my college. I had friends who I can still spot in the opening scenes!
10. Mrs. Dalloway (Virginia Woolf) Not much to say about this one. Woolf is a strong female writer who I ought to read more of.

Others that almost made my list: Lonesome Dove (McMurtry), Walden (Thoreau), Love in the Time of Cholera (Marquez), In Cold Blood (Capote), And Then There Were None (Christie), The Mill on the Floss (Eliot).

Happy reading! Whatever your favorites may be.
xo,
Arianna

NB: Please note that clicking any of the above links and making a purchase will help support Shelf Notes, if you are so inclined!

Top 10 Tuesday - Classic Books - AmberBug

Top Ten Tuesday from "The Broke and the Bookish"

This will be my third contribution to "Top Ten Tuesday" from The Broke and Bookish. The topic this week is all about the classics. The suggestion is to do 10 favorite classic books and/or 10 "want to read" classic books. I think I'll try and tackle both. I'll run them down side by side, one I've read and loved and the other one I'd love to read. This should be fun. 

This first grouping is ALL about Victor Hugo, an Author I've fallen in love with after reading the unabridged version of 'Les Miserables'.  

The Hunchback of Notre-Dame by V. Hugo

Favorite: Les Miserables

To Read: The Hunchback of Notre-Dame

Les Miserables by Victor Hugo

I've been telling myself I need to read "The Count of Monte Cristo" by Alexandre Dumas FOREVER now. I even started it, loved what I read to bits, but then got distracted by something shiny and told myself I'd come back when I had more time to commit. I tend to want to give really good books the attention they deserve but that means they end up on the back-burner until that magical moment comes along (and let me tell you... that moment doesn't happen nearly enough). I need to suck it up, dismiss some of my 'to-read' 2014 books and just do it. The book I've read, "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" by Mark Twain is that quintessential school read, but one that I really loved.

Favorite: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

To Read: The Count of Monte Cristo

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

One of my favorite all time classic books is "1984" by George Orwell. I've also been dying to snuggle up with "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. 

Favorite: 1984

1984 by George Orwell

To Read: One Hundred Years of Solitude

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

I just about love all Dickens I've read thus far and can't wait to read another. My favorite is "Great Expectations" and I really want to read "Bleak House".

Favorite: Great Expectations

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

To Read: Bleak House

Bleak House by Charles Dickens

I'm a huge fan of adventure tales, so I'm surprised I haven't picked up "Don Quixote" by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra yet. One of my favorite adventure books? Does "The Island of Dr. Moreau" by H.G. Wells count? I think it's adventurous enough. 

Favorite: The Island of Dr. Moreau

The Island of Dr. Moreau by H.G. Wells

To Read: Don Quixote

Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes

Who doesn't want to try and tackle "Moby Dick" by Herman Melville (if you haven't already). To go along with that... how about another beast, "Frankenstein" by Mary Shelley. 

Favorite: Frankenstein

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

To Read: Moby Dick

Moby Dick by Herman Melville

I fell in love with Shirley Jackson from the story, "The Lottery", like many others have. I want to read something classic but with that gothic feel to it, and I think the perfect book might be, "The Bell Jar" by Sylvia Plath.

Favorite: The Lottery

The Lottery by Shirley Jackson

To Read: The Bell Jar

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

"The Brothers Karamazov" by Fyodor Dostoyevsky is one that came across my list because of Arianna. This might not relate well but one of my favorites is "The Catcher in the Rye" J.D. Salinger. 

Favorite: The Catcher in the Rye

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

To Read: The Brothers Karamazov

The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Second to last picks. Have you read this short story, "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman? If not, you should. I'd like to read, "Madame Bovary" by Gustave Flaubert.

Favorite: The Yellow Wallpaper

The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

To Read: Madame Bovary

Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert

Last pick... (but definitely not the only grouping of classics I want to read) will have to be "The Master and Margarita" by Mikhaul Bulgakov. On the flip side, who doesn't love "Of Mice and Men" by John Steinbeck. 

Favorite: Of Mice and Men

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

To Read: The Master and Margarita

The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov

So, that's my list. What about you? Which classic books have you wanting to read and which classics do you covet?