Totally Should’ve Book Tag

It’s Book Tag Time again! I’m working on another review for next week, but there’s not much time right now for that between my university classes and actual reading going on. So things are slow going, but the important thing is that they *are* still going.
Feel free to tag yourselves, of course!

(Note: Original Tag Video can be found here by emmmabooks on Youtube)

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{The Tag}

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Questions

1. Totally should’ve gotten a sequel
Nimona – Noelle Stevenson: Yes. This is a graphic novel made up of a collection of comic strips, AND YET I NEED A SEQUEL. I’ve leant this book out a couple times now and my friends have responded pretty much the same. (Even as I write this I had to go back to Goodreads and check that there indeed was no sequel upcoming). Given that some big discoveries happen toward the end, I felt as though a new world was opening up, and I wanted to know more!

2. Totally should’ve had a spin off series
Skulduggery Pleasant – Derek Landy without a doubt, a highly underrated series in some of the more prominent book circles. I don’t hear enough people talking about Skulduggery! In my mind these books far exceed a lot of the more popular mainstream series out there today. Similar to Harry Potter, the novels initially start out a bit middle grade/early YA, but grow and develop with the reader. Derek Landy has a brilliant sense of humor and he channels it through his characters so well. I’d read anything set in this universe.

3. An author who totally should write more books
Joseph Fink & Jeffrey Cranor, as in Welcome to Nightvale. I see news of a sequel, which is so fantastic, because Nightvale works just as well as a book as it does in podcast form (with minor adjustments of course)…But these writers are fantastic, and I feel that they have a lot of potential to create a really diverse range of characters and worlds.

4. A character who totally should’ve ended up with someone else:
Tessa Gray from The Infernal Devices – Cassandra Clare. It’s hard to explain this answer for the people who haven’t read the series, but basically (if you exclude the epilogue), Tessa didn’t end up with who I wanted her to. I felt that personally, she defaulted to one choice in particular because *reasons* and then later comes back to my choice. But we’re just talking shipping preferences here :P Great series nevertheless. So many feels were felt.

5. Totally should’ve ended differently:
The Princess Bride – William Goldman: I didn’t hate the ending by any means; in fact it really suited the style of the novel and the author’s writing. However, the open-endedness did leave me a little dissatisfied, considering there was no follow-up.

6. Totally should’ve had a movie franchise: 
I’m quite scared to nominate books for movie franchises, as so often they are taken out of the author’s hands, and then I go and watch the movie and it just hurts to see what has happened to a story I loved–I just can’t separate the book from the film, guys D:. I think I’d nominate Vicious – V.E. Schwab as a stand-alone film (even though the novel *is* now getting a sequel). Because I do think it would lend well to some well choreographed action sequences, and it’s very action movie/sci-fi/urban fantasy all rolled into one. On top of this, it’s quite dark at times and would work with an older audience.

7. Totally should’ve had a TV show:
The Darkest Minds – Alexandra Bracken: Given the success of The 100 and other shows based around dystopia/fantasy, I feel that The Darkest Minds would actually do far better as a tv series than say, a movie. It’d allow a lot more time for all the great imagery and symbols to come into effect, and more time could be dedicated to the different powers at work.

8. Totally should’ve had only one point of view:
Oh man, I feel this about a lot of books that I read, actually. (The hard part is to actually remember which ones….) One that’s been brought up a lot for me is actually Allegiant – Veronica Roth and I do sort of agree. I understand *why* it was done, and how the story couldn’t function without it, but it was still an odd shift over from the single POV in both Divergent and Insurgent. The main issue for people (myself included) is actually that the main characters sound very similar in their narration style and thought processes, and it’s debatable whether or not this is intentional–as they did both grow up in the same community. Whatever the case, the similarity of the dual point of view can cause confusion for readers trying to separate the characters as two *unique* human beings, but is still inherently necessary.

9. Totally should have a cover change:
Iron Druid Chronicles – Kevin Hearne: I don’t completely hate the current covers or anything, but given that there is so much folklore and supernatural stuff happening in these books, I don’t feel like they’re reaching their full potential with the very similar covers they’re all currently sporting.

10. Totally should’ve kept the original covers:
The Maze Runner Series – James Dashner: The new covers are super simplified, and I really liked the scenic covers we had beforehand. I liked that they were more colourful too, as books (especially fantasy/sci-fi?) tend to end up with a black/sleek colour scheme which looks a little boring on a shelf.

11. Totally should’ve stopped at book one:
Graceling Realm Series – Kristin Cashore: Such a great premise, so much potential for world-building and characters and it just really fell flat for me in book two; Fire. I know you either love this series or you hate it, and I tried really, really hard to be the former. The great messages of empowerment of women and so forth were inspiring and interesting in Graceling, but I felt that as I kept reading these themes were being shoved in my face far too frequently to hold their poignancy and just sort of felt overused and in the way of plot, which was sad. At least, that was the personal effect that the writing style had on me. One day I might give it a re-read and see how I go, but for now, DNF big time.

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Wrap Up – February 2016

February started off surprisingly slow for me. I was in a bit of a slump where I was swapping between two or three books at once, and it didn’t feel like I was really getting anywhere with any of them. Finally, I managed to commit to just one, and once I had that finished the others follow pretty easily. All up, I completed seven books this month, three of which were probably in this last week alone–so I’m finishing the month strong.

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{Books Read in February}

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Laurinda – Alice Pung
★★★★✩
The Sin Eater’s Daughter- Melinda Salisbury
★★✩✩✩
The Ask and the Answer (Chaos Walking #2) – Patrick Ness
★★★★✩
The Scorpio Races – Maggie Stiefvater
★★★★✩
Binge – Tyler Oakley
★★★★✩
Finders Keepers – Emily Roddha
★★★★✩
More Happy Than Not – Adam Silvera
★★★★✩

My general reviews for the books I read in February can be found on my Goodreads here,
and my in-depth review for The Scorpio Races can be found here.

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Books read this month: 7
Total books read in 2016: 17
Goodreads Challenge Progress : 17 out of 50 books pledged

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Got some great books lined up for March, but I’m also starting my Postgraduate degree this week, so there’s going to be a period of adjustment as I figure out how to accommodate leisure reading and studies… I’m going to try and make it work!

-Datsu xox

 

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Reading More- Fighting the Slump Part 2

Hey WordPress! This month we return again to my thoughts on maintaining a reading habit, and fighting off the deadly reading slump. Last time I talked a bit about the things that really helped to kickstart my reading journey, including taking part in reading challenges, making sure I always had access to books, and the online book community itself.

This time I want to talk a bit more about fighting off the inevitable times where you just can’t seem to make any reading progress–your book isn’t appealing to you, or you just can’t seem to get into the swing of things. Of course, different people have different ways of dealing with this one, but these are my techniques.

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{Keep Picking Up Those Books}

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This is the one that’s really keeping me going right now; at the start of February I felt like I wanted to read everything but also nothing. I couldn’t figure out what I really wanted to read. So I just kept on picking up books. I’d get maybe 50 pages in and decide that I wasn’t really feeling it, so I’d abandon it and start over. And Over. In my experience you only have to finish one book to get going again.

If your usual genre isn’t working for you, or you just aren’t ready to continue on with that series, pick up something completely new. A light hearted contemporary, or a comedic biography. Maybe a short romance novel, even if that might not be your thing. You might find that the change in writing style, author or genre could be all you need to mix things up a little.

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{Mix It Up}

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Even if you really enjoy a particular kind of book, too much of the same thing could just be tiring you out. It’s the same as eating toast for every meal of the day :P

For example, I love to read Terry Pratchett’s books, but when I was in high school I tried to tacke a huge chunk of his Discworld series in one go, which really put me off reading for quite a while. Even though his books are all humorous and unique, I became restless reading too much of the same style of writing.

These days I try to have an even mix of stand alone novels, series, fantasy, sci-fi, contemporary and a bit of romance in my TBR list, but am always looking for anything outside of that to keep things interesting.

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{Read With Your Mood}

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Whilst you may really, really want to finish that series you enjoyed last month, or have been looking forward to getting that new political novel that’s coming out in a few days, emotionally, your mind could be in a completely different place.

Despite setting reading goals for myself each month, I don’t expect to hold myself to them if I’m just not feeling drawn to any of the options. Sometimes you just have to follow your noggin.

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{Book Podcasts}

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Something else I’ve been exploring lately- free book pdocasts such as Papercuts Podcast, Hypable’s Book Hype and Dear Book Nerd  are another great way to engage with the book community. If you enjoy book discussions on Youtube or online book clubs/forums as methods to hear about general book news or recommendations.

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{Read-a-thons, Read-a-longs}

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Another good way to engage in the book community and set some goals for yourself- reading events such as read-a-thons. These are especially great if you find year long challenges or bucket lists to be too big of a commitment or too restrictive. There are so many of these events across the year with different themes, challenges and hosts. One of the best features these days is that online read-a-thons have online hosts that live-tweet and post video updates during events.

I’ve found a great online directory posted by Little Book Owl on Goodreads here.

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{The Library}

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The Library is a really great option because of the huge range of books directly available to you. I went to my local last week and just checked out a huge bunch of random books that I’d heard of, wanted to read, or thought looked good. This gave me a much wider ranger of choices when trying to get into a reading groove. Also great for when you really need to have a physical book to read, but have no money to go out and buy a bunch.

 

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{Blog/Tweet/Post About It}

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Also worth mentioning– this blog. (Any outlet works, but for me, that’s this blog). It keeps me monitoring my own reading goals, tracking my challenges, reflecting on books I’ve read or want to read, and is

 

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{Do Something Completely Different….For A Bit}

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An oldie but a goodie. It might seem entirely counterproductive, but sometimes we just need to clear our minds and get some new creative processes going. Go for a run, jump up and down, paint, watch tv, relax or just get some fresh air in those lungs! I myself have a short attention span, and myself can’t often sit and read during the day for a long period of time, or hang around the house for too long without getting stir-crazy, and changing things up for a bit can be just the thing to bring you back with a fresh mind.

Warning: Doing so for too long (i.e avoiding reading) can actually make it harder to get back into reading.

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And so that wraps up my series on building reading habits and keeping them. It has helped to get these ideas down in writing for my own personal reference, but I hope it can help others who might be struggling too.
-Datsu xox

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Book Review: Carry On

Yep, I’m trying something new this year. I don’t know if it’s going to be a regular thing (maybe I’ll pick a book a month), or just a now-and-then thing, but I’d like to give book reviewing a go. I never really fancied myself a good book reviewer, but some practice couldn’t hurt really :P

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Carry On- Rainbow Rowell (2015)

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Summary:
Written as though it were the final book in a fantasy series, Carry On is the story of the ‘chosen one’ Simon Snow, along with his best friend Penelope, ex-girlfriend Agatha and his room mate and worst enemy, Basil Pitch.

Simon looks forward to returning to the magical academy -Wattford- all summer long, but when he finally arrives, Baz is nowhere to be found. Ghosts, numpties, dragons and vampires abound in this magical adventure about friendship, love, and prophecies.

Rainbow Rowell wrote Fangirl in 2013, and within that story, Simon and Baz were first created. However, these new characters weren’t done telling their story, and in 2015 Carry On was born.

What I liked:

• Writing style: I found that Carry On felt very much like one of Rowell’s usual contemporary novels, but with this great injection of fantasy in the mix. What many people appreciate about Rainbow Rowell’s writing style is that her characters feel so uniquely human, and the characters in Carry On really follow through.
  Given that this world has been compared with Harry Potter quite frequently, I half expected the story to be very similar too. It was a welcome surprise when I found this wasn’t the case. Simon Snow is ‘the Chosen One’, but not the one we’ve come to expect. In fact, Rowell plays with this notion quite a bit, and even the main characters question the idea.
  On top of this, I loved the author’s twist on the ‘magickal’ in this book, and the amount of world building she still manages to fit in. The catchphrase style spells made me laugh at times, and it was a unique way of refreshing the ‘magical school’ storyline.
• Pace: Though I’ll agree that things really kicked in once Baz actually enters into the story, I felt that the overall pacing of the book was really good. I could contentedly sit and read without finding any slow patches, and was definitely pretty hooked in the last 150-200 pages.
• Ideas & themes: Really appreciated how Rowell dealt with the LGBT elements in the book, as well as the gap in values between the younger and older generations. I also enjoyed the manner in which the line between good and bad was at times blurred, and I began to question my attitude toward characters who I assumed were trustworthy.I’ve already mentioned the notion of ‘the Chosen One’ which is explored from a few perspectives. Interestingly enough, none of the main characters seem to have the stereotypical supportive family that we often find in middle grade or YA fantasy stories, which only served to make the characters more human and sympathetic.
• Characters/relationships: The majority of the characters were well written- even those I didn’t necessarily find likeable (Agatha) were still very understandable in their motives. I didn’t feel at any time that the characters sounded older than they should be, and there was a good sense of rapport between the main cast. I really *got* why Penelope and Simon were friends, and *why* Simon had dated Agatha, and so forth.The relationships were well nurtured, and I felt that the Simon and Baz scenes were the best parts of the book. The chemistry was great, without the characters themselves having to be perfect, and overall it seemed effortless on Rowell’s part.My favourite character was, surprisingly, Baz. I thoroughly enjoyed all his scenes, purely for the sarcastic humour and the self-monologues he has going on. It was also interesting to see Simon from his point of view.Even all the side characters felt necessary, and most importantly, interesting. I could have read a whole story about Ebb or her brother.

Dislikes:

• The loose end: This is my only major complaint, and I can’t talk too much about it without giving things away, but as the book progresses the reader is clued in to a few important things that the main characters are not, and I kept waiting for the moment that Simon or Baz discovered them. Buuuuut that did not happen. In retrospect, these things weren’t key to the direct plot or the relationship between the main characters, but as Simon definitely has more than a few questions about his past, I felt that he was supposed to find them out (especially given the ending).
• The Mage: My sub-complaint sort of follows the same track; The Mage himself presented a bit of a problem for me as he was pretty much reclusive until the end of the book, and that was a bit surprising as we’re told that he and Simon are meant to have worked on missions and the like together, especially with Simon being named his heir. Overall it wasn’t a huge bother, but I felt that of all the characters in the story, The Mage was probably the one who was most lacking in depth.
• More Baz: Pretty please.

Concluding comments:
Basically, a great fantasy/contemporary/LGBT reader’s book. If you enjoyed Harry Potter or Percy Jackson in middle grade, Simon Snow feels like a teen interpretation. Magic, relationships, pop culture and swearing. It was all very refreshing- nothing felt old or cliche. It’s an enjoyable, easy read. Definitely don’t need to have read Fangirl before, but it *would* give you some context on how this story came about.

Rating: ★★★★✩

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Reading More-Fighting the Slump Part 1

At the start of 2015, I aspired, fought and dragged myself out of a very long (and terrible) reading slump. I’m talking maybe four or five years during which I really only read school books. They were dark times.
As a self-proclaimed ‘recovering reader’ I feel that I do have a bit of a perspective on the phenomenon that is the Reading Slump, and rather than going over some general techniques, I thought I could talk a bit about the things that motivated and assisted me on my journey back to the reading world.
In this first part I’ll mostly cover how I got back into reading, and next month hopefully I’ll cover some things that motivate me further and keep me picking up books.

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{My eReader}

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I actually can’t personally remember the exact moment where I suddenly fell back into a reading habit, but I DO remember why it all took off, big time. I’d recently started a Christmas Casual job at a pop-up stall, and found that it was quiet for quite long periods in the afternoon. When things weren’t busy we could pretty much occupy ourselves however, and I remember having the urge to pick up the Sookie Stackhouse series after abandoning it during university.
However, reading eBooks on my phone was rapidly destroying the battery which I had to preserve during ten or twelve hour shifts. This lead to the purchase of an eReader, for sake of convenience and size. Now the battery could last a whole month! Thirteen books later, and I’d somehow discovered Goodreads. (I think the eReader information package must have mentioned being able to sync with Amazon & Goodreads and so forth, or something).

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{The Online Book Community}

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Surely you know of Goodreads, or what else would you be doing here? I know people who prefer not to use it, as it’s believed to have a bit of a book recommendation bias due to it being owned by Amazon. However, I owe everything to the Goodreads website. Soon I was tracking all the books I had read, and adding more based on what other people were reading. It was a digital catalogue at my fingertips.

Goodreads also runs a yearly reading challenge, and maybe this was the biggest kickstarter for me. Physically sitting down and clicking that mouse on the pledge button was a trackable promise and motivator for me to start actually looking at all the books I had wanted to read but never did.

Next, and I don’t know how it happened, but thank god it did, came Booktube. The book community, but on Youtube. I hadn’t thought that it was even a thing, but soon I was following some of the most prominent booktubers from across the world, and nothing inspires me more to read than hearing people talk about books. Not only that, but it’s a great way to hear about new and popular releases, book events, read-a-thons, and also allows you to stare at pretty books from the comfort of your own home.

The other great thing about Goodreads, is that it’s the home of a great number of book groups and reading clubs. I joined a few who post about their own unique reading challenges, books of the month, and group read a longs. I’ve found these are a great way to meet new people with similar reading tastes, and to get yourself further involved in the books community.

Even more recently, I’ve started exploring the YALit Reddit tag . It’s a similar environment to other book clubs over on Goodreads, but for those perhaps more familiar with the Reddit format. There’s a monthly book club, discussions, and occasionally a guest author will host a discussion or Q&A session.

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{Book Stores}

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You heard me right. Somehow, during my university years (where I hardly read a thing that wasn’t required material), I’d stopped visiting book stores altogether. These days when I walk into a book store, I can’t help but check out the news releases, and basically have to restrain myself from buying everything I see. Ain’t no motivator like new, beautiful books to read.

Of course, online book sellers such as Book Depository offer cheaper alternatives (with free shipping), which helps me fill up my shopping cart, let me tell you.

I also find that just being surrounded by books and reading options puts me into a reading mood. It’s a shame that we don’t have any large-chain book stores in Australia any more, where you could just pick up a book, find a chair and read forever. Nevertheless, book stores are a pretty chill, relaxed environment, and often the shop assistants are more than happy to talk books with you.

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{Reading Goals & Challenges}

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I’ve covered a small portion of this with my talk on Goodreads, but I feel as though this was a really important one for me. After not reading for so long, I found that having so many options really can really cause you to become completely overwhelmed.

Whilst I found that the Goodreads Reading Challenge was the perfect motivator, if you struggle with just what to read, or where to start, other online reading challenges, such as the Popsugar Reading Challenge,  Modern Mrs Darcy Reading Challenge , and the Book Right Read Harder Challenge are perfect places to start.

Not only does having a challenge narrow down your reading list a bit, but it will often help to broaden your reading, or help you pick up a book that’s been sitting on your shelf for a year or more. They’re something you can undertake with other people, or all by yourself without great difficulty. Some challenges are even tailored down to just one challenge per month, and one book per month doesn’t sound too hard, right?

Online challenges also usually come with printable charts so that you can tick off each challenge as you go along, and can feel super great about your progress.

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{Creating a Habit AKA Making Time to Read}

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This was the other biggie for me. And the biggest problem? I didn’t even realise it.

I found that throughout my slump years I’d quite often complain that although I loved reading, I never had the time to actually do so. For me, reading fell into the same free time category as watching TV and playing video games, and it simply couldn’t compete. Nowadays, I almost can’t believe that was the case.

For one, I wasn’t a part of any reading groups, and no close friends of mine were really interested in reading. There was no information about new books, and no motivation to pick up any of the ones I had lying around.

We often hear that it ‘takes 21 days to form a new habit, or break one’ and this is in a sense true. The biggest step was starting up a routine. I knew that if I read a bit before bed, even just 50 pages a night, I could finish the average sized book in a week.

Personally, I’ve found that a reading habit is like sticking your hand in a quicksand. The more engrossed you become in a book, the more you want to read others in the series/ by the same author/ same genre. Soon you’re reading another and another, becoming attached to characters and writing styles. And suddenly? You realise it doesn’t require much motivation to read. In fact, you’re pumped up and excited to get back to that book, no matter how fast or slow you read.

Most days at the very least, I will read for half an hour to an hour before bed, depending on how close to the end of a book I am (The Mortal Instruments kept me up until the wee hours of the morning more than once). It’s become completely habitual in the sense that I don’t even sleep that well if I haven’t let myself wind down with a book first.

Another thing that helped enforce the habit was having a book on me always. Having an eReader definitely helped with this, as I could slip it into even my smallest handbag or coat pocket, and just read in my downtime. By having a book handy, it becomes an option. Waiting for the bus, between classes, before work, during lunch. I didn’t have to read, but the fact that I had a book handy increased my reading chances exponentially. Basically if I had time to kill, I had the option to read, and you won’t believe what a difference that makes. Big game changer.

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These are just some of the things that brought me back into reading and subsequently helped me stay there. One of the main reasons I stopped reading in the first place was that I was reading so many books I didn’t like (for university reading, or research, or whatever). So perhaps that is my most important tip: Read what you love. If you aren’t digging it, stop. There are better things out there for you- so many books, more than you could ever read. Why waste your time on one you don’t enjoy?

Surely many book lovers are doing these things already, but maybe someone out there has forgotten a few of these options. Maybe surrounding yourself with books will help. I want to talk more about other book formats and reading options, as well as podcasts and even book blogging when I return with Part 2 next month.

In the mean time, let me know about your own experiences. What helped you read more? What’s your favourite book community?

-Datsu xox

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Bucket List 2016

This week, I’m making my 2016 Bucket List official! Since my last post, I’ve also added a link on the blog so that my progress can be tracked at any time. In compiling the list this year I’ve tried  to include a good mix of genres, as well as stand alone novels and series. I do want to broaden my reading a bit this year, but there are also so many highly recommended authors I heard about last year that my bucket list could have been much, much longer.

As you can see, there are a lot of series that I really want to get through, most of which are trilogies. I might add some more stand alone novels as the year progresses though, depending on how my reading goals change.

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{2016 Book Bucket List}

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{Stand Alones}

The Princess Bride – William Goldman
Carry On – Rainbow Rowell
My Heart and Other Black Holes
Laurinda – Alice Pung
More Happy than Not – Adam Silvera
The Scorpio Races – Maggie Stiefvater
Perks of Being a Wallflower – Stephen Chbosky
All We Have is Now – Lisa Schroeder
All the Bright Places – Jennifer Niven
Illusions of Fate – Kiersten White
The Accident Season – Moïra Fowley-Doyle
Forbidden – Tabitha Suzuma
Afterworlds – Scott Westerfeld
The Marvels – Brian Selznick
Extraordinary Means – Robyn Schneider
Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte
Eat Pray Love – Elizabeth Gilbert

{Series}

The Raven King (Raven Cycle #4) – Maggie Stiefvater
Half Lost (Half Bad #3) – Sally Green
A Gathering of Shadows (Darker Shade of Magic #2) – Victoria Schwab

The Knife of Never Letting Go (Chaos Walking #1) – Patrick Ness
The Ask and the Answer (Chaos Walking #2) – Patrick Ness
Monsters of Men (Chaos Walking #3) – Patrick Ness

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Red Rising (Red Rising #1) – Pierce Brown
Golden Son (Red Rising #2) – Pierce Brown
Morning Star (Red Rising #3) – Pierce Brown

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The Fellowship of the Ring (Lord of the Rings #1) – J.R. Tolkien
The Two Towers (Lord of the Rings #2) – J.R. Tolkien
The Return of the King (Lord of the Rings #3) – J.R. Tolkien

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Red Queen (Red Queen #1) – Victoria Aveyard
Glass Sword (Red Queen #2) – Victoria Aveyard

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Talon (Talon #1) – Julie Kagawa
Rogue (Talon #2) – Julie Kagawa

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Rebel Belle (Rebel Belle #1) – Rachel Hawkins
Miss Mayhem (Rebel Belle #2) – Rachel Hawkins

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Illuminae (Illuminae Files #1) – Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff

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Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Hitchhiker’s Guide #1) -Douglas Adams
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe (Hitchhiker’s Guide #2) -Douglas Adams
Life, the Universe and Everything (Hitchhiker’s Guide #3) -Douglas Adams
So Long and Thanks for All the Fish (Hitchhiker’s Guide #4) -Douglas Adams
Mostly Harmless (Hitchhiker’s Guide #5) -Douglas Adams

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A Thousand Pieces of You (Firebird #1) – Claudia Gray
Ten Thousand Skies Above You (Firebird #2) – Claudia Gray

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These Broken Stars (These Broken Stars #1) – Amie Kaufman & Meagan Spooner
This Shattered World (These Broken Stars #2) – Amie Kaufman & Meagan Spooner
Their Fractured Light (These Broken Stars #3) – Amie Kaufman & Meagan Spooner

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Shadow and Bone (Grisha #1) – Leigh Bardugo
Siege and Storm (Grisha #2) – Leigh Bardugo
Ruin and Rising (Grisha #3) – Leigh Bardugo

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Legend (Legend #1) – Marie Lu
Prodigy (Legend #2) – Marie Lu
Champion (Legend #3) – Marie Lu

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Angelfall (Penryn & the End of Days #1) – Susan Ee
World After (Penryn & the End of Days #2) – Susan Ee
End of Days (Penryn & the End of Days #3) – Susan Ee

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The Archived (Archived #1) – Victoria Schwab
The Unbound (Archived #2) – Victoria Schwab

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At this stage that makes….57 books for my bucket list. I don’t expect to read them all, but I’m going to try using this as my short list for books that I choose to read this year :)
Does anyone else have a grand bucket list? Do you find that having one helps guide your reading much? And, if you’re like me and have too many books on your TBR, how do you narrow your options down?
-Datsu xox

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Bookstagram: https://www.instagram.com/datsureads/
Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/datsudream
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/ThatsDatsu

TBR – January 2016

Hey WordPress, Happy New Year! It’s finally here!

Here we go, it’s Reading Challenge time. Yes, it’s all definitely happening this year. I may have downgraded my goals a bit this time around, but I’m also trying to diversify my reading a bit more too… baby steps! 2015 was my first time doing the Goodreads Reading Challenge, which was a huge success! Taking part in a community based reading program gave me the drive I needed to learn how to incorporate reading back into my life again, and now that it’s here I never want it to leave. I loved it. So of course, I’m doing it again :) If you’re unfamiliar with Goodreads, or the challenge itself, mosey on over here.

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{Challenge #1: 2016 Goodreads Challenge}

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This year I’m hoping to return to full time study (really hoping I get into my first choice), so despite reading over 100 books last year, I think I’d be happy with even half that amount this time.

Goal: I want to read 50 books in 2016

Yup, straight from Goodreads, that one. Spoiler, I’ve just read Illuminae.

The best part about tracking your challenge with a website such as Goodreads is that at the end of the year you can view all these amazing statistics such as the number of books, pages and words you’ve read, amongst other things. I find that having your achievements all laid out like that is super satisfying.

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{Challenge #2: MMD 2016 Reading Challenge}

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Last year I saw so many interesting book challenges that I would have loved to take part in. Since I was still getting back into the routine of reading I was quite intimidated and didn’t want to pressure myself too much, but this year I’m completely ready. In 2016 I’m going to try and supplement my regular reading challenge with an extra web challenge, one that was referred to me over on Facebook–the Modern Mrs Darcy Reading Challenge.

There are 12 distinct challenges, one for each month, which are intended to help structure your reading list across the year (and therefore works well with my Goodreads Challenge also).

And for this month I have chosen……

A book published before you were born

I went waaaaay back with this one and picked Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë. I tried reading this when my father first bought it for me around the age of ten, but the language was probably a bit too complex at the time. Since then, I never really found the opportunity to pick up the book and just read  it, but I think 2016 is the year I finally tackle this classic! I’ve always heard really good things about the characters in this book, so I do still have high expectations.

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And lastly…
{January TBR}

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TA DAAA! It feels good to finally be in 2016, and even more so to start reading new series and new books which I’ve bought recently.

Illuminae (Illuminae Files #1 – Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff
Wuthering Heights – Emily Brontë
The Princess Bride – William Goldman
Carry On – Rainbow Rowell
Rebel Belle (Rebel Belle #1) – Rachel Hawkins
The Knife of Never Letting Go (Chaos Walking #1) – Patrick Ness

You might have noticed that I’ve read Illuminae already, because this is going up a bit late, but I do have some good things to say about it at the end of the month :)

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It looks like a pretty positive start to the new year, got some serious book goals happening and everything. Also planning to revamp the site graphics (it being a brand new year and all), starting with some of the banners. Let me know what you think!

-Datsu xox

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Bookstagram: https://www.instagram.com/datsureads/
Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/datsudream
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/ThatsDatsu