Books Everyone Else Seems to Have Read (But I Haven't)

My TBR list is currently taller than I am (not that that's difficult - I'm short,) but there are books that everyone else seems to have read which I just... haven't. Not that I particularly mind. I'll either get around to it eventually or I never really wanted to read it in the first place. But I thought it would be fun to have a little meander through the books I haven't read which everyone else has.

A lot of these turned out to be YA, but I guess that's because I read a lot of YA in general, and it's such a popular genre. I'm sure there's more than what's on this list - but this is what I could think of right now.

Catching Fire and Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

I know! I loved The Hunger Games, but just haven't gotten around to reading Catching Fire yet. I do want to - but it's been sitting on my shelf now for what I can only describe as years. I'll read it one day... I just don't know when that day will be.

The Divergent Series by Veronica Roth

I know people who swear by this series - and one of these days, I may even get around to reading it. But currently, I'm not all that bothered either way. It could be cool though, maybe some day I'll give it a try.

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

I have to admit that I have no real desire to read this. I mean, never say never, but it doesn't really seem like my thing. That's not to say that other people won't enjoy it, but I really just have no drive to read this. Sometimes that happens. Everyone else is raving about something, and you're just there like... meh.

The Maze Runner Series by James Dashner

My best friend loves this - so eventually she will grind me down, and I will have to read it. Not that I mind, it's part of what friends are there for, after all. I tend to like dystopia, so I'll probably enjoy it.

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Part of me is like, 'Ooh, that looks interesting!' and then part of me is like, 'But it's going to be some sort of contemporary romance, and those can get silly/annoying really fast.' So, yeah, in two minds about whether or not to read this one.

The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater

I've read Shiver - the first book in The Wolves of Mercy Falls series - by Maggie Stiefvater, and that was OK. The Raven Cycle actually looks quite interesting, and I wouldn't mind giving it a go.

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell

I've heard good things about this but it's another one that has me in two minds. Part of me thinks it might be a little pretentious for my tastes - but then I think I'm being the one being snobby by making a snap judgement...


The Percy Jackson and the Olympians Series by Rick Riordan

I really want to get into this series. I've seen the films, and loved them, and these books seem like they'd be totally on my thing. So, when I get around to it, I will - at some point - read The Lightning Thief, and get sucked in to all the Percy Jackson-ness.

Carrie by Stephen King

I will get around to this! It's on my tbr list! I will read it!

The Fifty Shades Trilogy by E L James

I am in no way a prude (I read fanfiction for Chrissakes!) but I really couldn't care less about Fifty Shades of Grey. All power to you if you like these books - you have the right to read and like to read whatever you want - but I just don't give a damn to be honest. This won't be on my tbr list for the foreseeable future.

Nerd Church - A Reader Lives a Thousand Lives...

“A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies, said Jojen. The man who never reads lives only one.”

 

George R R Martin, A Dance With Dragons

 

 

I'm sure that most readers will have come across this quote on the interwebs, even if they haven't got to A Dance With Dragons in the Game of Thrones series (which I haven't, by the by; I've only read the first one at the moment.)

 

But it's true, isn't it?

 

We live thousands of lives as we read. We're there alongside all of our favourite characters - and not so favourite ones, of course. We live alongside them, sometimes knowing their deepest hopes and fears; we feel their love and their grief, their joy and their frustration. I know what it's like to be a vampire, a witch, a hero, a warrior... what lives have you lived recently?

 

The Writer Diaries (Or NaBloPoMo Week 1, Re-cap)

This month, I'm participating in BlogHer's NaBloPoMo for November 2015. This is similar to NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) in that it's a month long writing challenge. In NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month) bloggers are challenged to post every single day that month. While I'm not in the same 'nation' as BlogHer, who are based in the US, pretty much everyone ignores the 'National' part of these challenges anyway, so I figured it'd be fun to throw my hat into the ring - it'd give me an excuse to write some stuff anyhow, without the added pressure of a particular project to be concentrating on.

At the end of week 1, I'm feeling in fine spirits (wonder how long that'll last.) At the moment, this is pretty enjoyable - though I imagine it's going to get harder as the month wears on.

*Just a note, the dates I refer to below are in the UK/European format of day/month/year.*

Week 1 Posts:

Sunday, 01/11/15

Nerd Church - I Understood That Reference

Monday, 02/11/15

Reviewing the Evidence (Graphic Novel Edition!) - Death Vigil (Vol #1) by Stjepan Šejić

Tuesday, 03/11/15

The Writer Diaries (Or, I Blog From the Heart, How 'Bout You?)

Wednesday, 04/11/15

Time to Review the Evidence (Graphic Novel Edition!) - Side-kicked by Berttholtz, Mendonca, and Dazo

Thursday, 05/11/15

Comics Wrap Up - Death and Side-kicks

Friday, 06/11/15

Friday Fics Fix! - The Ship That Dare Not Speak Its Name

Friday Fics Fix! - The Ship That Dare Not Speak Its Name

In case any of you need a little re-cap on the fangirl jargon, 'shipping' is wanting two characters to be together romantically - therefore, a 'ship' is the term used to describe this romantic relationship. Or, in other words, in fanfiction, everyone is having sex with everyone else in a mostly homosexual way.

There is one ship in particular though that I'm hesitant to name in polite company. Ships have names. I should mention this. Sometimes they even have more than one name. It's like one of those celebrity relationship names like Brangelina. So, for example, Captain America and Iron Man together are Stony (though this is sometimes referred to as Superhusbands or Superfamily, particularly in a domestic-type fic.) You get the picture.

So, what's wrong with the name of the ship I want to introduce to you? To put it plainly, it sounds filthy. It's a Marvel fandom. It involves a certain soldier and a certain agent (I can practically hear the Marvel girls giggling.) Those of an easily offended disposition, look away now (are they gone? good.) Yes, ladies and gentleman, the ship that I want to feature in this Friday's Fics Fix is Phucky; the ship name for the romantical pairing of Agent Phil Coulson and Bucky Barnes.

The queen (as far as I'm concerned) of Phucky is the brilliant CeliaEquus - who've I've featured in this post series before. In particular, I recommend Fics From the Phucky Archive as your ultimate guide to the ship/fandom in drabbles and shorts (that's short one-scene or one-part fics.) This includes a drabble entitled 'Shipping Names' that is half-way towards the fic-ception fics that I love. I haven't read all of the parts, so I'm going to say 18+ only, just in case.

Also worthy of highlight are The Curse of Empathy, The Boy From Ipanema, and Did You Say (which is actually set in a porn star Alternate Universe and is therefore very, very smutty - 18+ guys. I know you do what you want, but I tried.) To be honest, I could go on, and on, and on, but that's enough for the time being. Just a warning, pretty much everything in fanfiction in general (in case you haven't noticed yet,) is pretty damn weird, so even if I don't give it an 18+ rating, it's going to get freaking weird. And many men will kiss. Enjoy.
 

Comics Wrap Up - Death and Side-kicks

Beautiful Creatures: The Manga is, oddly enough, a Manga adaptation of the novel Beautiful Creatures by Margaret Stohl and Kami Garcia. I really loved it - but then, a combination of my enjoyment of the source novel (US readers, click here,) and my enthusiasm for things being adapted into graphic novel format, might be colouring my view of this. But the cover's awesome and everything (US Link) - it's purple! (I know... shut up.)

On a more serious note (and one which hopefully sounds less like the opinion of a 6 year old child,) Cassandra Jean's artwork is beautiful, and keeps to the traditional black-and-white of manga volumes (though with glossier paper.) If I have any criticisms, it's that sometimes it wasn't that clear whether the characters were speaking aloud or just thinking the words.


Death Vigil, Vol 1 by Stjepan Šejić is stunning. I loved this book, and graphic novel fans would be foolish to give this one a miss. You can see my full review for more shameless gushing.

Side-kicked is a clever graphic novel exploring the possibilities of a side-kick strike - very skilfully I might add. Again, you can see my full review for more detail.

In terms of single issues, this week I enjoyed Marvel's Weapon X #14 - Sinister's List, based on the infamous Weapon X project from the X-men side of things. The artwork, the story, the characters... everything here is simply excellent, and woven around world history in a way that makes it all the more poignant.

Time to Review the Evidence (Graphic Novel Edition!) - Side-kicked by Berttholtz, Mendonca, and Dazo

Title: Side-kicked (US Link)
Author: Russell Berttholtz, Miguel Mendonca, Bong Dazo
Genre: graphic novel

A few starting notes:

I received a free digital review copy of this graphic novel via NetGalley. NetGalley provides review copies from publishers in exchange for fair and honest reviews.

I didn't know what to expect here, but I was intrigued. A side-kick strike? Count me in!

Sorry if I've missed out any of the contributors in the 'author' section - I was getting in a thorough flap over who I needed to include.

Premise:

The side-kicks of Chicago's superheroes have had enough. They're underappreciated, have poor working conditions, and are treated like c**p by the heroes. Something's gotta give - the side-kicks are going on strike. Maybe that'll make the heroes see that they can't manage alone.

Best bits:

The premise here is very much the selling point - and it doesn't disappoint. I love the realities of day-to-day life as an underappreciated side-kick. I also love the growing of the strike movement - there are plenty of relevant social issues here, hiding just underneath the surface, and they're handled with ease and originality.

The art is, on the whole, bright and fresh. It has the realism (frown lines, light and shade, etc.) of modern comics, with the pop art edge and bright costumes of the golden and silver ages of comics. A nice meld (blogger nods sagely and pretends she isn't surprised at how intelligent that sounded.)

The characters are more than relatable - who hasn't felt underappreciated and hard done by at some time in their lives? They're also genuinely nice guys - they've just had enough of standing by and taking the c**p that's given to them.

I'm also happy that the author(s) decided to address the issue of suicidal thoughts head-on; there is no shame in being depressed.

Not so great bits:

Some may find the depictions of the consideration of suicide distressing - and while I applaud bringing mental health issues into the light, I can understand others finding it upsetting, and even potentially triggering.

I did find that I got a bit muddled between characters, particularly since they were in-costume, out-of-costume, code-names, normal-names... it left me a little bamboozled at moments. I think that's the challenge of dealing with so many characters at a time - and I'm sure that if there's a sequel, there'll be more chance to establish the characters as individuals.

I found the villains a little forced - they were more of a plot device than individual characters, but I can understand that they actually weren't the main issue here. The main issue was, in fact, the rights of the worker. Which, as far as I'm concerned, was handled very well.

Verdict:

An enjoyable and readable graphic novel. There's potential in this series - let's hope it gets the chance to realise it.

The Writer Diaries (Or, I Blog From the Heart, How 'Bout You?)

There are a lot of blogs out there. So very many blogs are out there. Some like to wow with the flashy-flash, some like to use gifs until your eyes bleed, some feel very club-y and exclusive, some very welcoming.

I try to blog from the heart - as random-a** and batty as my heart is. I also try not to worry about chasing followers and views - you chase them, and they'll run away. Wait for them to come to you, grasshopper (man, I haven't watched Kung-Fu in ages...) Anywho, believe me or disbelieve me if you wish, but I try to just be really open and genuine with what I blog, and my reviews. If I enjoy it, and I really think it's worthy of praise, then praise is what it will get. If I dislike it, then I will say so.

I also have to admit that I'm not particularly good at being a part of either the Blogsphere or the Booksphere - you know, the social stuff, and what it's 'cool' to blog about at any particular time. And I'm OK with that. I'm a bit older than a lot of the girls out there blogging (granted, I'm also younger than many other book bloggers,) I have different interests, different life experience, and different tastes (I am nerd girl, hear me Squee!) I don't read things if they don't interest me, no matter how much buzz there is about them. I have my own, sometimes quirky, opinions, about a variety of subjects - and hopefully the people who actually do read this blog appreciate that.

So, I have no idea what spurred this post - something that was brewing in my fangirling heart, clearly. I will write what I mean though guys - always and forever (sorry, I've been watching too much of The Originals,) so I promise that I will do my best (honestly, you can tell I was a Guide,) to be an honest, quirky, and non-bandwagon-jumping blogger. Hope that's ok with all of you :)