2014 Bookish Resolutions Check-Out

Let us review my year of book reading shall we?

2014 Bookish Goals That were made at the beginning of 2014.

1. GoodReads Goal of 48 Books
2. 12 Re-Reads
3. Finish 5 Manga Series
4. Read 2 Japanese Books
5. Finish 4 Series
6. Write a novel in 365 days = 365 pages
7. Start a booktube
8. Read more books compared to 2013 that aren’t manga.

2014 End-of-Year Check:

1. Throughout the year it jumped around; to 24 (in April), 48 (July) and finally to 38 (October) [see here]. I am now at 45 books which means I have surpassed the April and October adjusted goals and was only 3 off my original goal! =] I am very happy with that!

Book Breakdown:

• Physical Books: 6
• E-Books: 18
• ARCS: 8
• Manga/Comics: 13
• Japanese: 0

2. I failed at this and only managed 3 re-reads:
   Pride and Prejudice
   The Hobbit
   MockingJay
3. This was one I really thought I could do but I kinda stopped reading manga for a while and only really marathoned it in one/two days obsessive bursts so couldn’t get any series finished. But I am still up-to-date on two manga so technically 2 completed?
   Kuroshitsuji
   Shingeki no Kyojin
4. Another I thought I could honestly do; take 6 months to read one book each but uni got crazy and it’ll take 100s of hours for me to read one Japanese book so I didn’t even attempt to try =/
5. Another I thought doable but alas was not. Finished 0 series.
6. I did two NaNoWriMo’s (one lost, one won) and got a total of around 142 pages written which I think is pretty damn impressive and I’m happy with that regardless of not writing everyday and not reaching 365 pages xD
   Camp NaNoWriMo 2014; Swelting Hot – 25300 out of 25000 words = WON!
   NaNoWriMo 2014; Of Pork and Storms – 31947 out of 50000 words = LOST.
   Total of 57247 (so technically I won NaNoWriMo, no?)
7. I did start one but it takes a lot of time and I’ve found I’m a better writer and ‘behind the scenes/keyboard’ sort of person rather than being the star in front of the camera so even though the booktube channel was not successful, I think we can all agree that this blog has been rather successful – agree?
8. In 2013 I read 21 books that weren’t manga volumes or comic issues etc. And this year I have managed to read 32 books, which means I read more books this year than last!

Total number of resolutions completed: 2.5/8?

Now onto the two most exciting things! Best and Worst Books of 2014!

And my winners are:

And my loser is:

Happy New Year’s Eve!

5 Classics I Want to Read in 2015

I have accumulated quite a few classics over the years, and I’m not even including the free domain books you can get on Kindle! So here are the 5 classics I will read this year!

As well as an extra classic because it was a classic I started this year and have not yet finished!

I have chosen these classics mainly because they are classics that I own physically and with the high possibility (and certainty) of moving back to Japan next July/August, I need to kind get rid of as much physical stuff as possible so by going through all my physical classics, I will only be keeping the classics (and other books and DVDs etc.) that are top favourites of mine! So not only are they classics I want to read but also books I kinda have to read xD

Which do you recommend I start with?

Books that I Really Want to Read but Too Scared in 2015

Here are some books that I already own but haven’t started reading because of reasons, mainly:

– The hype around it makes me feel my expectation is too high
– It’s an ultimate fantasy must-read and I’m scared I won’t like it

The second one is the greatest reason for this group of books. So without furtherado, here are the books!

By making this list I have hopefully make them become ‘you must read’ books of 2015 xD Wish me luck!

Which book should I read first?! Let me know in the comments below.

2012/2013 Reading RoundUps

This blog wasn’t around when I began doing the GoodReads challenges so I thought I’d take this time to tell and show you what I read and how I did in those years prior to my blog’s birth! =]

2012 Resolutions:

1. GoodReads Goal = 12

2012 Results:

1. GoodReads Goal reached; read 13 books (108%)

Breakdown:

• Physical Books: 13
• E-Books: 0 (didn’t own an e-reader until August 2013)
• ARCS: 0 (wasn’t a part of NetGalley until April 2014)
• Manga/Comics: 0
• Japanese: 0

            

Book of 2012:

ENDERS GAME!

2013

2013 Resolutions:

1. GoodReads Goal = 24

2013 Results:

1. GoodReads Goal reached; read 50 books (208%)

Breakdown:

• Physical Books: 15
• E-Books: 6
• ARCS: 0 (wasn’t a part of NetGalley until April 2014)
• Manga/Comics: 29
• Japanese: 0

Book of 2013:

MISTBORN!

And there we go! I hope it was insightful for you and gives you an greater idea of what I read and like and such – although I think it was obvious what books I’m into xD

Quidditch Through the Ages and Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them

I’ll review these two books together because they’re small and my reviews of them are also small.

Quickie Review: 2 out of 5 stars on GoodReads.

It was definitely an easy and interesting read but it wasn’t anything ‘wow’ and I felt it lacked in a lot of things I wanted to know; it focused very heavily on England and I really wanted to hear about Quidditch on a worldwide scale and maybe even it talk about amazing Quidditch events but instead focused on England and spoke a lot of the rules, brooms and different teams and tricks.

Quickie Review: 3 out of 5 stars on GoodReads.

I think if I had read this when I was in my ‘I love HP’ phrase, I would’ve enjoyed it much much more and gobbled it up within seconds! But besides that I did enjoy reading about how the wizards section the beasts and what is a being and how muggles do not see them as well as the list of creatures! The comments left by Ron and Harry had me in stitches giggling!

Have you read these books? How soon should I pick up Tales of Beedle the Bard? I know right!

Christmas Book Haul!

I got almost every book that I asked for! 🙂

1984
Brave New World
Way of Kings in two parts
Elantris
Warbreaker
The Rithmatist
Steelheart
Alloy of Law

What did you get? Tell me in the comments below!

Authors I Want to Read/Try in 2015

This list will be based solely on how much the author themselves have intruged and not by ‘what books do I own that are from authors I’ve never touched?’ but will literally be based on ‘I’ve heard this author is a cool guy’ or ‘I’ve only ever heard rave reviews of his books but I only know his name and book titles, let alone what his face looks like!’ xD Here we go! I shall also list the book I most likely to pick up first by them slash the book of theirs I really want to read first!

1. Stephen King – I must get a book and read this man! I love his lectures, I think he’s amazing. I’ve seen quite a few of his adaptation and I really wanna watch Carrie and Under the Dome and I’ve heard great things about… ALL this books! Especially ‘The Long Road’ recently. I must read this man in 2015!

2. Ernest Cline – he owns a freaking working Delorian and made a book filled with 80s gaming culture?! I’m there!

3. James S.A. Corey – because I heard they made an epic SF series that is now getting a TV show and over two years since I bought their first book and I’m still dying to read it?!

4. Hugh Howey – only ever heard amazing things about his books and I own one of his, so I better get on his case and experience the awesome!

5. George Orwell – he’s like the omniscient god in the classics/fantasy/SF world. He’s a man that just floats around every bookreader and seems to get his way into so many conversations and I want to find out just what this man’s writing and ideas are all about.

6. Joe Abercrombie – I’ve heard he’s the king of dark fantasy and I want a slice of a fantasy genre I haven’t tried.

7. Philip K. Dick – another omniscient god in the world that I walk in and yet never touched! =/

8. Patrick Rothfuss – he is on everyone’s radar! He’s a lovely person, his books are supposedly awesome (I have heard quite a bit of negative although doesn’t turn me off in the slightest) and he does a lot for charity and loves table top games – I need to read him.

9. John Scalzi – heard rave reviews about all of his books and they all sound awesome and right down my alley.

10. Gail Carriger – I’ve seen her in interviews and she’s perfectly pleasant! She writes in steampunk all the time which I think is awesome! And she loves octopi and tea! Also, her major at uni was as an archaeologist – how amazing is that?!

Sooooo many more I want to read and devour and maybe I will in 2015 but maybe they’ll have to wait until 2016 =/

The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis

Quickie Review: 3 out of 5 stars on GoodReads.

I had read the first 5 books of Narnia about 3/4 years ago and now I’m finally getting around to finishing the series! (fingers crossed before the year is over so I can move on!). I loved the adventure, the characters were interesting – I especially liked the Marsh-Wiggle and his mass negativeness xD and I liked the character development that Jill went through. The plot was also interesting – I especially liked the giants and the going underground and meeting them creatures. 

But it didn’t have the wow factor and now that I’m older, I can see the mass of religious influence in the book and I, personally, just don’t do religion, especially in my fantasy books so the whole ‘Aslan is god and god helps us and we live with Aslan up in the clouds after death’ stuff (absolutely no offence to those who are religious, I can completely understand your standpoint as I went to a Catholic school for 12 years and so was/am technically a Catholic) just bored the pants of me and made me think ‘stop preaching jesus christ’ no pun or offence intended, I just say that ‘swear word’ (it’s classed as a swear word slash bad phrase at least in England) a lot. I also didn’t like how little the actual ‘Silver Chair’ was in it for – why call it ‘The Silver Chair’ if it’s only in it for like 2 pages?! But having said that, some books don’t even have a title that matches the contents or has anything related to the title xD

And I think the child and 21st linguist in me is at fault but I could help but giggle and be amused by the overuse of the word ‘gay’ which obviously was in a completely different context to what it’s used today but I couldn’t help myself!

Cram-a-Thon Wrap Up!

Went Dec 20th – Dec 24th. There’s still 40-odd minutes left until it’s officially over but the child in me still believes I must be asleep be midnight on Christmas Eve or else Santa won’t come and I won’t get any presents! So here is my early-ish wrap up!

I was recovering from a cold when this started as well as I was very busy going to a performance and having a weekend trip during the 21^st and 22^nd, as well as my mother got ill on Sunday and passed a bit to me so I’ve been looking after her and myself more than having time to read =[ so I didn’t blast through like I would which makes me sad but making my mother better is far for important and satisfying =]

Day 1 = 20^th

Read: A Game of Thrones
Number of Pages:  8
Total Number of Pages: 8

Day 2 = 21^st

Read: The Silver Chair, A Game of Thrones, Quidditch Through the Ages
Number of Pages: 47, 5, 5
Total Number of Pages: 65

Day 3 = 22^nd

Read: A Game of Thrones, The Silver Chair
Number of Pages: 15, 1
Total Number of Pages: 81

Day 4 = 23^rd

Read: /
Number of Pages: /
Total Number of Pages: 81

Day 5 = 24^th

Read: The Silver Chair
Number of Pages: 105
Total Number of Pages: 186

Happy Christmas!!

Top Ten Tuesday #27

This Week’s Topic: Top Ten Books I Wouldn’t Mind Santa Bringing This Year – this one was super fun to do!

But firstly, let me tell you the books I asked for this Christmas:

Yes, I asked for all the Brandon Sanderson books that I do not own (which is all of them minus 4!) as well as 1984 because I cannot believe I don’t own that book let alone haven’t read it yet!

And now for the other 10 books that I want Santa to bring me!

And there’s my top ten list! A a mix I think personally =]

What’s on your list? Comment below or link me to your TTT!

Merry Christmas!