Books I Read and Loved in 2014, Part 1

Hello wonderful readers, I'm on the cusp of the second half of the year, and I realise I haven't posted in months (I am pretty active on Instagram if anyone wants to follow me in my day to day life. Lots of pictures of my fur babies). So, I thought I'd talk about the books that I've read and loved in the first half of 2014. Currently, I'm sitting at 77 books read, but quite a few of them didn't really move me all that much.

Books Read in March

Well, this month has been a surprise.
I'd been expecting my reading rates to drop significantly, due to uni, but if anything, they've risen! Despite being so super busy, March has been the best reading month this year, having read 25 books. (Though, to be fair, some of them were graphic novels, and a small handful were super short, like, around 100 pages long, for classes.)
~ indicates a graphic novel

1. Wanderlust (Sirantha Jax, #2) - Anne Aguirre 4 stars
2. Lost Voices (Lost Voices, #1) - Sarah Porter 2 stars
3. Falling Kingdoms (Falling Kingdoms, #1) - Morgan Rhodes 3 stars
4. Daisy Miller - Henry James 3 stars
5. Fade Out (Morganville Vampires, #7) - Rachel Caine 3 stars
6. Lovely, Dark and Deep - Amy McNamara 4 stars
7. The Five People You Meet in Heaven - Mitch Albom 4 stars
8. To The Lighthouse - Virginia Woolf 4 stars
9. Trouble in Mind (Birds of Prey III, #1) - Duane Swierczynski & Jesus Saiz 5 stars + fave ~
10. Wonder Woman: Odyssey, vol 1 - J. Michael Strczynski 4 stars ~
11. Crank (Crank, #1) - Ellen Hopkins 3½ stars
12. Just One Day (Just One Day, #1) - Gayle Forman 3½ stars
13. Riveted (Iron Seas, #3) - Meljean Brooke 3 stars
14. Orlando - Virginia Woolf 4 stars
15. Vampire Academy (Vampire Academy Graphic Novel, #1) - Richelle Mead & Leigh Dragoon 3 stars ~
16. When We Wake - Karen Healey 4 stars
17. The Great Feminist Denial - Monica Dux & Zora Simic 3 stars
18. In the Penal Colony - Franz Kafka --
19. Paper Valentine - Brenna Yovanoff 3½ stars
20. Nevermore (Nevermore, #1) - Kelly Creagh 5 stars
21. Princess of the Midnight Ball (Princess, #1) - Jessica Day George 3 stars
22. The Dark Unwinding (The Dark Unwinding, #1) - Sharon Cameron 3½ stars
23. The Miseducation of Cameron Post - Emily M. Danforth 4 stars
24. The Time Keeper - Mitch Albom 2 stars
25. The Death of Oracle (Birds of Prey II, #2) - Gail Simone 4 stars ~

This month:
Pages: 7,054
Avg. Pages: 282 pages per book

Total:
Books read: 61
Pages: 19,214
Average Pages: 315 pages per book

As many books as I've read this month, when I was supposed to be studying, I don't think I'll be able to read even half as many during April. I have a lot of things due this month (including some flash fiction due tomorrow, an essay on Virginia Woolf, and a couple of workshopping sessions). Busy busy busy.

Books Read in February

Well, February was a surprising month. I read over twenty books, which kind of amazes me. I blame the fact that I'm on holidays. When school starts up (on Monday, eeep!) I probably won't have any time to read. I remember that last year, majority of my reading time was done on the train to and from uni, which is about an hour's ride each way.

I was surprised, though because I've been hard at work editing the manuscript for FG to send to some CPs (as I stated in a previous post). Most days were spent with several hours sitting in front of my laptop, with the rest of the day either watching tv shows (I managed to score the first 2 seasons of The Walking Dead, and the first seasons of Pretty Little Liars, Vampire Diaries, and Charmed from my local library), or reading. I think I'm going to miss these holidays.


1. Tell the Wolves I'm Home - Carol Rifka Brunt; 5 stars
2. The Wishing Spell (The Land of Stories, #1) - Chris Colfer; 2½ stars
3. The Age of Miracles - Karen Thompson Walker; 4½ stars
4. A Corner of White (The Colours of Madeleine, #1) - Jaclyn Moriarty; 5 stars
5. The Tea Rose (The Tea Rose, #1) - Jennifer Donnelly; 3½ stars
6. The Grimm Legacy (The Grimm Legacy, #1) - Polly Shulman; 3 stars
7. When We Were Executioners (Dogsland, #2) - J.M. McDermott; 3 stars
8. Dark Inside (Dark Inside, #1) - Jeyn Roberts; 3 stars
9. The Golden Lily (Bloodlines, #2) - Richelle Mead; 4½ stars
10. Amber House (Amber House, #1) - Kelly Moore, Tucker Reed & Larkin Reed; 4 stars
11. Gone, Gone, Gone - Hannah Moskowitz; 2 stars
12. Dragon Slippers (Dragon Slippers, #1) - Jessica Day George; 4 stars
13. Everybody Sees the Ants - A.S. King; 4 stars
14. The Lucky Ones (Bright Young Things, #3) - Anna Godbersen; 3½ stars
15. In Honor - Jessi Kirbi; 2½ stars
16. Starling (Starling, #1) - Lesley Livington; 3½ stars
17. Lord of Misrule (The Morganville Vampires, #5) - Rachel Caine; 3 stars
18. Carpe Corpus (The Morganville Vampires, #6) - Rachel Caine; 3½ stars
19. Mistwood (Mistwood, #1) - Leah Cypess; 4½ stars
20. Life Everlasting - Bernd Heinrich; 3 stars
21. All This Could End - Steph Bowe; 3½ stars


This month:
Pages: 6,832
Avg. pages: 325 pages per book

Total:
Books read: 36
Pages: 12,160
Avg. pages:  337 per book

The most important thing to note about this list is that this month, there are no faves. Sure, I gave some books quite high ratings (5 stars for both Tell the Wolves I'm Home and A Corner of White), but none of them really grabbed me, you know? Maybe this month just wasn't a lucky month, or maybe (I'm sure a lot of non-readers would argue this, like my mother), they've just become meaningless words, because I read too fast.

Nah, definitely not the latter, thank you very much.

I'll just have to read even more books to find a favourite.

I might be posting even less when the semester starts (what, like less than I already have been? HA HA HA), but monthly reading recaps will definitely be happening, because I'm obsessive about recording books. And it'll be one of those things to let you know I'm still alive and haven't been slobbered to death by the giant puppy.
This giant puppy:

I should totally end all blog posts with pictures of Layla, right? Right.

Auto-buy Authors

I don't usually participate in memes. Mostly because I find them somewhat annoying, and because I can never commit myself to actually posting regularly. Because I fail like that.

But today is different. I really like the question posed for today's Top Ten Tuesday (which is hosted by The Broke & The Bookish).
What authors are on your auto-buy list?

Palimpsest by Catherynne M. Valente

1. Catherynne M. Valente is one of my all time favourite authors. Her way with words break me. I've even been trying to get my hands on the hard to find, out of print stuff that she's published with small presses, and it really hurts my wallet, but makes my heart sing with joy.

2. David Mitchell. I tried his book, Cloud Atlas on a whim because I had heard about the gross white-washing that had been done in the movie, and I wanted to see if it was in any way justified (because it deals with a whole bunch of complicated reincarnations) (hint: it wasn't). After Cloud, I was hooked. I tried to get my hands on the rest of his work, and devoured them. As with Catherynne M. Valente, he has a way with words, though in a very different abstract sort of way. His metaphors evoke a surreal image, and I honestly can't handle how perfect it all is.

3. Juliet Marillier. Once again, I was hooked by beautiful words. Not only that, but her world-building, and the careful way she builds her characters leaves me breathless. Daughter of the Forest is a novel that left me depressed, disgusted, heartbroken, and elated.

The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey

4. Eowyn Ivey. Even though she's only written one book, I know that she is an author I would love to read more from. She has a talent at making the reader feel completely immersed within the world of the book. When I was reading Snow Child, which is set in Alaska, I could feel the cold, hear the crunch of footsteps on ice, and the wail of a howling wind.

5. Alison Croggon. When I was a teen, I absolutely devoured her Pellinor series. I can still remember traces of her novels, and the feelings they made me feel. But when I picked up her newest novel, Black Spring, I fell in love with her work all over again.

6. Laini Taylor. As with every other author listed so far, Laini is mentioned because of her writing. Can you tell I'm a sucker for poetic prose?

7. Franny Billingsley. Again, pretty writing. Her stories are like fairy tales, they evoke a sense of wonder and beauty and magic. Love love love. I just wish that she wrote faster so that I could have more books to devour and cry over.

8. Cherie Priest. The first person on this list who isn't here because of pretty writing. Not that she writes bad or anything. I'm more interested in her imagination. I absolutely loved Boneshaker. The world, the characters, the atmosphere.

9. Neil Gaiman. Of course this man would be on this list. Of-freaking-course. This man is a crazed genius. American Gods is one of my all-time fave novels because of the original vision of mythology being pitted against modernism. And then there's the Sandman graphic novels. And his books for children. And his short stories. And his scripts for Doctor Who... There's just so much that this man has done, and it's all been practically perfect.

10. Alison Goodman. After falling in love with Eon and its sequel Eona, I knew that I had to have every single book that Goodman will ever write. She writes rich, vivid, well-researched worlds, that tackle social issues like femininity, transsexuality, spirituality etc, without feeling like you're being lectured. I love that sort of stuff.

So yeah, top ten authors that are on my auto-buy list.
Here, have a picture of Layla as a parting gift.

Books Read in January

It's hard to believe that January is almost over. Where did all the days go?

I've spent the majority of the month reading, editing, and worrying about adult responsibilities. Very tiring. Even though I'm on holidays, I feel like I've never been busier. 

So, here are the first books of the year. 

1. Heart of Steel (The Iron Seas, #2) - Meljean Brooke

2. Mr Fox - Helen Oyeyemi

3. Rebel Heart (Dust Lands, #2) - Moira Young

4. Fire Spell - Laura Amy Schlitz

5. Please Ignore Vera Dietz - A.S. King

6. The Brides of Rollrock Island - Margo Lanagan *

7. The Unbearable Lightness of Being - Milan Kundera

8. Monsters of Men (Chaos Walking, #3) - Patrick Ness

9. Between the Lines - Jodie Picoult & Samantha van Leer

10. My Sister Lives on the Mantlepiece - Annabel Pitcher

11. Falling to Ash (Moth, #1) - Karen Mahoney

12. Shadows (Ashes, #2) - Isla J. Bick

13. Feast of Fools (The Morganville Vampires, #4) - Rachel Caine

14. The Farm (The Farm, #1) - Emily McKay

15. Jane Eyre Laid Bare - Charlotte Brontë & Eve Sinclair

Lazing out in the sun with the puppy

And because I'm in love with random statistics and such:

Pages: 5,328

Avg. pages: 355pgs per book

Ratings:

5 stars - 3

4 stars - 2

3 stars - 5

2 stars - 4

1 star -1

Of the above books, only one made it to my all-time favourites list: Margo Lanagan's Brides of Rollrock Island (published as Sea Hearts here in Aus). This was my first novel of hers that I'd read, and holy crap, I regret not picking up her stuff sooner. When I find the time, I plan on picking up Tender Morsels. 

Fire Spell by Laura Amy Schlitz was another book that I really loved--unfortunately it didn't make it onto the fave list, through no fault of its own, it just didn't click in that way. 

Pretty pictures make this book readable.

Another unforgettable book--for all the wrong reasons--was Jane Eyre Laid Bare. Curiosity forced me to pick it up. I love Jane Eyre. It's one of my favourite novels ever. But this... this was a monstrosity. It provided for some lol-sy entertainment, though, so I guess it served its purpose.

Other things that happened in January:

- meeting Neil Gaiman (for the second time in my life)

- getting my first tattoo

but both those two deserve their own posts, so keep an eye out in the next few days. ;)

I hope the first month of 2013 passed without any complications for everyone. And I hope February will be just as awesome as January. <3

Books Read in November

November flew by so quickly, didn't it? I was so busy and overloaded with NaNo, but thankfully still managed to get a decent amount of reading done.

As always, an * indicates a favourite book.

1. Faerie Tale - Raymond E. Feist
2. God's War (Bel Dame Apocrypha, #1) - Kameron Hurley
3. There Once Lived a Woman Who Tried to Kill her Neighbour's Baby - Ludmilla Petushevskaya
4. The Amber Amulet - Craig Silvey
5. The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet - David Mitchell *
6. Blood Storm (Lharmell, #2) - Rhiannon Hart
7. Carnival of Souls - Melissa Marr
8. After the Quake - Haruki Murakami
9. The Knife of Never Letting Go (Chaos Walking, #1) - Patrick Ness
10. Ghostwritten - David Mitchell *
11. Every Day - David Levithan
12. Enchanted - Alethea Kontis
13. Infidel (Bel Dame Apocrypha, #2) - Kameron Hurley

The most notable books are, of course, the two books by David Mitchell. He's fairly new to me; I only picked up his most famous novel, Cloud Atlas (soon to be a movie, which is why I was so intrigued in the first place) just last month. Immediately, I was a fan. I'm now going through the rest of his books. Two books on my to-read pile for December are the last two books of his that I haven't read, number9dream and Black Swan Green. To say I'm excited is an understatement. I have high hopes for these books.

Other books I'm planning to read in December include the second and third books in the Chaos Walking trilogy. I'm going to be doing a readalong with Glaiza and Emily from Goodreads when I get back from my vay-cay.

I've got a few more Murakami books to read--I've really fallen for his surrealism--and I want to start reading some more Virginia Woolf.

Sadly, I'm still 7 books behind on my goal of 200 books for this year. I need to read 25 books during December in order to make it. Oy vey. Wish me luck!

Books Read in October

Ah, it's that time of the month again.

No, not that time of the month. I mean the time where I post about all the books I've read.

I didn't manage to read too many books this month. I was busy with assignments during the first two weeks on October, and then I was fretting about NaNo.

While I didn't read as many books as I'd have liked to, I still managed to hit a few jackpots, which balances things out, I guess.

As always, * indicates a fave, and ~ indicates a graphic novel or manga.

1. Night Beach - Kirsty Eagar *
2. Friday Brown - Vikki Wakefield
3.  A Wild Sheep Chase - Haruki Murakami
4. Bayou Moon (The Edge, #2) - Ilona Andrews
5. Holier than Thou - Laura Buzo
6. Fifty Shades Freed (Fifty Shades, #3) - E.L. James
7. Fall for Anything - Courtney Summers
8. The Legend of Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass (Zelda, #10) - Akira Himekawa ~
9. Tiger's Destiny (The Tiger Saga, #4) - Colleen Houck
10. The Drawing of the Three (The Dark Tower, #2) - Stephen King
11. What I Talk About When I Talk About Running - Haruki Murakami
12. Sweet Evil (The Sweet Trilogy, #1) - Wendy Higgins
13. Seraphina (Seraphina, #1) - Rachel Hartman *
14. Death at Victoria Dock (Phryne Fisher, #4) -Kerry Greenwood
15. The Audition (Seraphina, #0.5) - Rachel Hartman
16. Zombies vs. Unicorns -edited by Holly Black & Justine Larbalestier

Of the selection, two really stood out: Night Beach and Seraphina. If you remember in my last monthly book recap, I posted a picture of Night Beach as a currently reading picture. It's a book that I can't help but love. It is subtly scary, has gorgeous prose, and well-thought out imagery and metaphors. And I am all about themes, imagery, and metaphors. I loved it so much I even wrote a review of it for a Non-Fiction assignment.

Seraphina caters to the love of a high-fantasy world with dragons that my younger self used to harbour.   Hartman writes with such fluidity that it's hard not to be enchanted. Coupled with Seraphina's strangeness and the garden inside her head (oh, the garden! Definitely my favourite part of the book), it created a world that I never wanted to leave. I'm greatly anticipating the next book. I don't think I can handle waiting till next year.

Other notable books include both of the Murakami books I'd read this month, A Wild Sheep Chase, and What I Talk ABout When I Talk About Running. Sheep was just amazing. I wasn't quite expecting such a mind-fuck of a book. It felt so surreal, much like a dream, which I've heard is Murakami's usual style, so that makes me super excited to read more of his stuff. Running is a memoir about his life as a marathon runner, though he draws heavily on his writing career, as well. He uses running as an analogy to writing, giving lots of great tips that apply to both. It really perked me up for NaNo.

Books Read in September

Gosh, this has been the crappiest month ever. I've been constantly sick, with on-again, off-again flus, and then I found out that it was because I have sinusitis.
Sinusitis totally doesn't sound like a real sickness. Every time I catch myself saying it, I keep thinking, you just made that word up, didn't you? But I promise I didn't make it up. My doctor must have made it up, or something.
But yeah, that's what my life has been for the past month. I've missed a month's worth of classes, but that's okay, because most of my classes don't actually seem to need me to be present, so I'm a bit lucky. I've also gotten a bit behind on my reading and editing, because sinusitis apparently means that I need to have constant migraines because of the pressure of constantly blocked sinuses. Fuck you, sinuses!
I've been on antibiotics for the last 9 days, and they end tomorrow, but I don't feel much better. Bleh. I hate being sick.

Anywhos, enough of my whining, here are the books I managed to read this month:
As always, * indicates a favourite, and ~ indicates a graphic novel or manga or picture book.

1. Fifty Shades Darker (Fifty Shades of Grey, #2) - E.L. James
2. The Little Storm Dancer (The Lotus War, #1.5) - Jay Kristoff ~
3. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte *
4.  Flow: The Cultural Story of Menstruation  Elissa Stein & Susan Kim
5. Every Other Day - Jennifer Lynne Barnes
6. Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell *
7. The Assassin and the Empire (Throne of Glass, #0.4) - Sarah J. Maas
8. City of Lost Souls (The Mortal Instruments, #5) - Cassandra Clare
9. Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter - Seth Grahame Smith
10. The Gunslinger (The Dark Tower, #1) - Stephen King
11. Jurassic Park (Jurassic Park, #1) - Michael Crichton
12. Throne of the Crescent Moon (The Crescent Moon Kingdoms, #1) - Saladin Ahmed
13. Glass Houses (The Morganville Vampires, #1) - Rachel Caine

Image taken on my Instagram

14. On the Edge (The Edge, #1) - Ilona Andrews
15. Adorkable - Sarra Manning
16. The Avengers vol 1. - Brian Michael Bendis & John Romita Jr. ~

So yeah, not much of an exciting list this month. I finish uni halfway through October, so maybe then I'll have more time to read. If my sinusitis goes away, that is.
Of the books I read this month, only two really stood out: Jane Eyre and Cloud Atlas. 

Jane Eyre was read for my literature class for uni, and I loved every moment of it. The writing is just phenomenal, even though sometimes Bronte does tend to ramble on about the most inane detail. I can't wait to write my essay on it concerning gender and societal roles. I'm so excited. *is such a nerd*

Cloud Atlas also had phenomenal writing, but what made this book stand out was the sorta gimmicky way it combined six separate strands to make one overarching story. And each of the six stories, despite focusing on completely different topics, characters, and even genres, was fantastic in its own way. Several weeks later, and I'm still thinking about it. This book definitely needs a reread at some point in the future. Maybe before I watch the film.

Hopefully next month will bring a more fruitful list. I've been going insane from not reading enough. I'm not used to reading at the speed of a normal person. I don't like it. :c

Currently Reading.
Image taken on my Instagram

Books Read in July

July was a pretty good month for me in terms of reading, mostly due to the fact I was on holidays for the most part. 

Surprisingly, a lot of the books I read were fairly good, with quite a handful becoming my favourites--for example, the books by Ilona Andrews and Catherynne M. Valente. Sadly, I also read Fifty Shades of Grey, which, as you can probably tell from my last post, I did not enjoy at all.

* indicates a favourite

~ indicates a graphic novel/manga

1. Magic Bites (Kate Daniels, #1) - Ilona Andrews *

2. Public Scrutiny (Ultimate Spiderman, #5) - Brian Michael Bendis ~

3. Yume No Hon: The Book of Dreams - Catherynne M. Valente *

4. Rampant (Killer Unicorns, #1) - Diana Peterfreund

4. Like Mandarin - Kirsten Hubbard

5. Venom (Ultimate Spiderman, #6) - Brian Michael Bendis ~

6. Morning Glories, vol 2. - Nick Spenser ~*

7. Magic Burns (Kate Daniels, #2) - Ilona Andrews *

8. Magic Strikes (Kate Daniels, #3) - Ilona Andrews *

9. The Bloody Chamber - Angela Carter

10. The Purity Myth - Jessica Valenti

11. Fifty Shades of Grey (Fifty Shades of Grey, #1) - E.L. James

12. Puberty Blues - Kathy Lette (reread)

13. Deathless - Catherynne M. Valente *

14. Go Ask Alice - Anonymous

15. The Springsweet (The Vespertine, #2) - Saundra Mitchell

16. Darkly Dreaming Dexter (Dexter, #1) - Jeff Lindsay

17. The Cement Garden - Ian McEwan

18. Fragile Things - Neil Gaiman

19. Serpent's Kiss (The Beauchamp Family, #2) - Melissa de la Cruz

20.  Cunt: A Declaration of Independence - Inga Muscio

21. The Ersatz Elevator (A Series of Unfortunate Events, #6) - Lemony Snicket

22. Magic Bleeds (Kate Daniels, #4) - Ilona Andrews *