Category Archives: Blog Hops

Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: Books I Keep Meaning to Read (But Haven’t)

In: Blog Hops

Hosted by Long and Short Reviews.

I’m hoping to find plenty of interesting things to read in all of your lists this week! Mine was a lot of fun to put together.

Title and Author: Echoes: The Saga Anthology of Ghost Stories by Ellen Datlow
What It’s About: The title says it all.
Why I Haven’t Read It Yet: Halloween is my favourite holiday, so I want to wait until we’re closer to that time of year before reading about spirits and hauntings.

Title and Author: In West Mills by De’Shawn Charles Winslow
What It’s About: The lives of various members of an extended and sometimes overly-close family between the years of 1941 and 1987.
Why I Haven’t Read It Yet: The library list for it has been ridiculously long. I’m nearly at the top of it now, though!

Migraine: A History by Katherine Foxhall

Title and Author: Migraine: A History by Katherine Foxhall
What It’s About: The title says it all.
Why I Haven’t Read It Yet: The release date for the library copies of this book keeps getting pushed back!  I’m on the waitlist for it, so I will have it eventually.

Title and Author: Becoming by Michelle Obama
What It’s About: The former First Lady’s life from birth to present day.
Why I Haven’t Read It yet: I actually have read some of it! I’ve been reading this memoir so slowly over the last few months because I want to savour every last word of it. Mrs. Obama is a wonderful storyteller.

Title and Author: Daughters of the West Mesa by Irene I. Blea
What It’s About: The murders and burial of eleven women and one fetus. This novel is based on a real case from Albuquerque, New Mexico. It was recommend to me by a fellow WWBC participant.
Why I Haven’t Read It Yet: My local library doesn’t have a copy of it. I’ve sent a request in that they buy it and am waiting for a response before I decide if or when to get my own copy of it.

Click here to read everyone else’s replies to this week’s question. The image below is the list of upcoming prompts for this blog hop.

Top Ten Tuesday: Books On My TBR I’m Avoiding Reading and Why

In: Blog Hops

Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

I honestly don’t have much to say in the introduction to this post this week, so let’s jump straight into my list.

Title and Author: Networking for People who Hate Networking: A Field Guide for Introverts, the Overwhelmed, and the Underconnected by Devora Jack
What It’s About: The title says it all.
Why I’m Avoiding It: Most of the reason why I haven’t read this book yet is because there’s a long list for it at the library. I’m also a little worried about it being one of those “just pretend like you’re not an introvert and magically don’t get nervous!” sort of books.

Title and Author: Tell It to the Bees by Fiona Shaw
What It’s About: Two women falling in love in the 1950s in a rural British town.
Why I’m Avoiding It: I had major issues with certain plot twists in the film. I don’t know if the book followed the same path, so I’m a little hesitant to give it a try.

Title and Author: The Ministry of Truth: the Biography of George Orwell’s 1984 by Dorian Lynskey
What It’s About: Why George Orwell wrote the famous novel, 1984.
Why I’m Avoiding It: I’m trying to take a long break from the dystopian genre as a whole. I know I’m going to enjoy this book once I’m in the right frame of mind for it. Right now, I need lighter, fluffier tales.

Title and Author: Haben: The DeafBlind Woman Who Conquered Harvard Law by Haben Girma
What It’s About: The title explains it all.
Why I’m Avoiding It: As I said earlier, these days I’m more into short, fluffy reads. I’m saving this book for when I’m ready for something serious and thought-provoking again.

Title and Author: Suzanna by Irene I. Blea
What It’s About: Child marriage, desperate loneliness, and what I think may turn out to be an emotionally abusive relationship.
Why I’m Avoiding It: This book sounds like a powerful read, but I don’t think I can handle such heavy themes at the moment.

Title and Author: Wilder Girls by Rory Power
What It’s About: A F/F romance, a deadly disease raging through an isolated school, and the mystery of what might lie beyond the fence the students have been forbidden from walking past.
Why I’m Avoiding It: Just about everyone loves it. I’m simultaneously excited to read it and worried that it won’t live up to the hype for me.

If you’ve read any of these books, please do share your thoughts on them.

Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: Books That Deal Well with Tough Topics

In: Blog Hops

Hosted by Long and Short Reviews.

When I originally saw this topic on the Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge List, I thought it would be an easy one. It turns out that most of the books I’ve read recently have not been about tough topics, and the ones I have read are not necessarily titles I’d recommend. So I had to dig deeply into my reading history to answer this prompt.

Title and Author: The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
Issues It Covers: Racism, Police Corruption, and Injustice

Title and Author: The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
Issues It Covers: Second Wave Feminism, Sexism, and Mental Health

Title and Author: As Nature Made Him: The Boy Who Was Raised as a Girl by John Colapinto
Issues It Covers: Gender, Medical Malpractice, and Mental Health

Title and Author: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
Issues It Covers: Childhood Sexual Abuse, Mental Health, and Racism

Title and Author: Boundaries: When to Say Yes, How to Say No to Take Control of Your Life by Henry Cloud
Issues It Covers: Mental Health, Unhealthy Interpersonal Relationships, Toxic People

Title and Author: A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness
Issues It Covers: Grief

Click here to read everyone else’s replies to this week’s question. The image below is the list of upcoming prompts for this blog hop.

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Enjoyed That Are Outside of My Comfort Zone

In: Blog Hops

Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

I had some trouble coming up with all ten answers for this week’s prompt. Generally, I don’t bother finishing books that are truly outside of my comfort zone. These titles were were exceptions to that rule, and they make for an eclectic, if also shorter than usual, list.

Unwind by Neal Shusterman book cover. The word unwind appears to be shrink-wrapped.

1. Unwind by Neal Shusterman

Why it was outside of my comfort zone:

While I love science fiction in general, the process of Unwinding really freaked me out. That is a term I’m purposefully not explaining because of how graphic and disturbing it is. Feel free to google it at your own risk.  I’m glad I finished this tale, but I don’t know I could ever watch a film based on it.

2. Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

Why it was outside of my comfort zone: 

Romance is a genre I don’t read much in general because, despite being married for a decent amount of time now, I am a rather unromantic person at heart. (Well, unless we’re talking about chocolate covered cherries because who doesn’t like chocolate-covered treats!?) The romance in this book happened between two selfish and emotionally unhealthy characters, so that pushed it even further outside of my comfort zone even though the plot itself was well done.

The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry book cover. Boy stands on asteroid looking at stars.

3. The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Why it was outside of my comfort zone: 

Some of the allegories in it make my brain hurt. I simultaneously love the poetic nature of it and desperately wish for a straightforward translation of what it’s trying to say.

The Crossover book cover by Kwame Alexander. Image of the outline of a black kid twirling a ball on the front of it.

4. The Crossover by Kwame Alexandre

Why it was outside of my comfort zone: 

I know nothing about sports and have no interest in learning about them. Despite that, this book of poetry about a kid who was obsessed with basketball and worried about his father’s poor health was incredibly well done.

 

Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: Books I Had to Read in School and Liked

In: Blog Hops

Hosted by Long and Short Reviews.

This list will be a long one. I had some truly wonderful Language Arts teachers over the years. While there were a few books they assigned to us over the years that I didn’t like, I found something enjoyable in the vast majority of our assigned reads.  

I’m assuming that all of the WWBC participants have at least heard of these plays, poems, novels, and other works if they haven’t read them. I chose not to write commentary on them to keep this post from turning into a 1000+ word essay, but I’m happy to expand on anything that you’re all not already familiar with. This is roughly sorted by the age when I read them. Little House in the Big Woods was a fourth grade reading assignment, I believe.

Book cover for The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor EstesLittle House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder 

The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes

Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery

The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton

The Pearl by John Steinbeck

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

Edgar Allen Poe’s works, especially “The Raven” and “The Masque of the Red Death”

Romeo & Juliet by William Shakespeare

A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare

Othello by William Shakespeare

Walden by Henry David Thoreau

Emily Dickinson’s collected poems

e.e. cummings collected poems

The Iliad by Homer (I think we only read excerpts of this one),

Click here to read everyone else’s replies to this week’s question. The image below is the list of upcoming prompts for this blog hop.

Top Ten Tuesday: Favorite Tropes

In: Blog Hops

Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl I had such a good time putting this list together. How many of these tropes do all of you also enjoy? 1. Unseen Antagonist This trope tends to be most common in the horror genre. The main characters either never meet the antagonist or have encounters with him or… Read More