Wanna hear something weird? You may have noticed that it's been . . . a while since my last post. Suffice it to say this has been a rather uneventful and somewhat bland month. BUT - I was looking at my stats page the other day . . . because I'm weird like that and like to see how many people are checking me out online. Anyway. For some reason this month has gotten more hits than any other month ever, except last June when I did that 30 day thing. I have no idea why I am apparently the hottest thing ever in Russia right now . . . but it's a major ego boost, so I'll take it! :-) (also: привет, мои друзья!)
Also: I despise this stupid new blogger layout. With a passion.
Anyway. Onto "real" topics.
I've been having quite the struggle finding good books for the last couple of months. I've mentioned it to a few people, but it seems like I'm getting really picky about what I like to read. On the one hand, it's really weird because I've always been the girl who reads everything and dislikes almost none of it - but in the last six weeks or so I've put down, like, five books just because I couldn't bring myself to finish them.
Back in the day I was more like a book-goat. I read everything, with absolutely no discrimination, more or less. I remember going to the library during the summer as a kid. I'd check out a dozen or so books, and approximately five days later I'd've finished them all and be ready to go back for more. But no one else was done with their books yet, so I had to wait. And out of sheer desperation I'd read everyone else's library books too. It was almost like going down a ladder - in the course of about two weeks I'd start out by reading my books - a mix of Beverly Cleary types to Star Wars novels from the adult section of the library (and you better believe nothing could make me feel more grown up, lol!) and then I'd read Ashli's books . . . and Shayla's books . . . and finally Rian's books, and since he's six years younger than me and we're talking about the still-in-Idaho-Falls-timeline here we're talking about a 12-year-old reading the books a 6-year-old checked out due to sheer desperation for something to read. It was not exactly pretty. And I may still have this book memorized. Going on two decades later. (holy CRAP, I'm getting old . . . )
So . . . yeah. I read everything. During the school year we didn't go to the library so I read the books in the house over and over and over and over and over and over and over again. Still have some of them kind of memorized too. We all got books for our birthdays - and I was always getting in trouble for reading everyone else's books before they got a chance . . . but a new book in the house was like manna from heaven! Christmas was the most glorious time ever because it meant at least twelve new books. And I'm sure grandma and grandpa remember the time I spent the whole visit doing literally nothing but frantically reading the last five books of the Work and the Glory series. We had the first four at home and I'd read them at least a dozen times and I was DYING to just finish them already! Five books. Couple thousands pages or more. Four days. I did it.
That's still one of my proudest accomplishments. Even if it's not one I exactly bring up a lot.
Anyway. I guess maybe it's something to do with the fact that I have a library card, a goodreads account, and a car but I am totally losing my patience for so-so books. There are still plenty that totally hook me right away and blow me out of the water by the end. But there are more and more that I just can't bring myself to pick up after a few chapters. It's really weird. For me it's kind of disturbingly weird. Like, what's wrong with me that I can't enjoy all books anymore? We all know I'm totally over the who LDS fiction thing, but the over all fiction thing really freaks me out. I know I'm exaggerating, but on the other hand I have had six duds in the last six weeks (literally, I just checked on goodreads) and when I get a string like that it's depressing. I mean, six out of fourteen is practically half!
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaanyway. I just felt like a little bit of complaining/semi-ranting. The good books are still out there, they're just getting harder to find I guess. (totally open to recommendations! and you should totally get on goodreads if you're not!!!) Back to my current book. Which is so far, so good.
P. ost S. cript
Tilt shift is seriously the coolest thing on the face of the planet.
hey, if you check out my facebook page, there is a giveaway going on for a book. I have read it and liked it a lot! But I am a big fan of YA, and that is what it is.
ReplyDeleteI haven't been on Good Reads FOREVER! I'm not as good at it as I once was. However, I'm reading The Maze Runner series and Matched series. I'm not huge fans of them, but my students love them. They are quite popular with my students. Why I'm not a huge fan (the 1st book in each series would probably be 3 1/2 stars): I'm sick of the distopia book. How many books can be written about a distopia society that someone fights to overcome it. Not quite sure how you would feel about them, but you might want to look into them.
ReplyDeleteI've always had a thing for dystopias, so I'm not burned out on them yet. :-) I'm actually counting down the minutes until I can request the last one at the library in August so I'll be at the top of the list when it comes out in November. :-) The Maze Runner is on my list.
DeleteA couple I just thought of that I really enjoyed:
ReplyDelete1. The Forgotten Garden
2. Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie
After Ever After (the previous 2 are YA lit. Both being part a library contest our school librarian does yearly. DGDP was on there a few years a go and AEA was on this year. They can be read separately, but involve the same family. LOVED these two)
3. Bruiser (part of the library contest as well).
4. Ranger's Apprentice Series--There's like 10 books in the series and if you have not read them, oh boy oh boy, you my friend are not going to be disappointed
5. The Gatekeeper Series--There's four in this series. The first one is called Raven's Gate.
6. I'm starting Night Circus. My coworkers love it, I'm not far enough in it to make an opinion.
**Books 2-5 are YA lit, but in my job, I read a lot of YA lit, and I love it.
Read The Forgotten Garden about a year ago, but she has another one I want to read. The rest sound good. Thanks! I'm all about the YA. Half the time is more interesting.
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