Teaser Tuesday!

Hey Ya’ll! It is TEASER TUESDAY! That is right, it is time to grab your current read, flip it open, and give a sentence or two to “tease” the rest of us. This wonderful even is hosted by Should Be Reading.

Stolen by Lucy Christopher:

“I can’t save you like that, Ty. What you did to me wasn’t this brillant thing, like you think it was. You took me away from everything – my parents, my friends, my life. You took me to the sand and the heat, the dirt and isolation. And you expected me to love you…”

Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins:

“ Because that’s the thing about depression. When I feel it deeply, I don’t want to let it go. It becomes a comfort. I want to cloak myself under its heavy weight and breathe it into my lungs. I want to nurture it, grow it, cultivate it. It’s mine. I want to check out with it, drift asleep wrapped in its arms and not wake up for a long, long time.”

Have you got a teaser to share? If so, please leave a comment!

 

Musing Mondays – AudioBooks

Do you listen to audiobooks? Why, or why not?

I do listen to audiobooks, but only ones without annoying narrators and ones I don’t have to pay too much attentiont to. This enables me to multitask. I am an avid cross stitcher and so if I pop in an audiobook, I can get some reading done, as well as some cross stitching. However, I have to be careful with listening to audiobooks because I am prone to letting my mind wander, and when/if that happens, then I have to backtrack to try to figure out what is going on. A lot of times I like to listen to audiobooks that I have already read because if I miss some of the plot, it is okay because I know what happened. And finally, whenever I listen to an audiobook, I always like to have a copy of the book handy so that I can track where I am and see the spellings of character names, and if I come across passages that I cannot believe I just heard what I heard, I can look it up in the book and see for myself. I know that is weird, but it is how I am.

I am currently listening to Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. I have already read the book (though I only read the first half of both the 3rd and 4th books so I am hoping having them on audio will help me push through them). In addition, I am listening to Outlander by Diana Gabaldon on audio. This is good because it is such a big book that I get intimidated by its size. Please I hate actually reading dialect sounds so hearing it really helps (like “canna” for “can not” and “dinna” for “do not”, etc)… It absolutely drives my brain insane!

So what about you? Do you like AudioBooks? Why or why not? Please post a comment and let me know!

 

Booking Through Thursday

 

 

Booking Through Thursday is a fun weekly question and answer session, based on books, of course. This week, the question is:

All things being equal (money, space, etc), would you rather own copies of the books you read? Or borrow them?

I love owning books. If I had unlimited money to buy books with, I would definitely own them instead of borrowing them. This is for a couple reasons. Aside from loving the look of books on my shelves, I am an incredibly moody reader. I choose what to read based on my mood, but having Library due dates kind of forces you to read on their schedule instead of yours. Additionally, I tend to get more books than I can read by the due date and so I end up having to return books before I have finished them/started them. Then I have to request them again. It is very annoying. I would much rather own the books than borrow them.

But as life stands, I can not afford to buy all the books that I want and so I must borrow them

 

 

Top Ten Tuesday

“Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created here at The Broke and the Bookish. This feature was created because we are particularly fond of lists here at The Broke and the Bookish. We’d love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists! Each week we will post a new Top Ten list  that one of our bloggers here at The Broke and the Bookish will answer. Everyone is welcome to join. All we ask is that you link back to The Broke and the Bookish on your own Top Ten Tuesday post AND add your name to the Linky widget so that everyone can check out other bloggers lists.
Jamie here (you might also know me as Jamie from The Perpetual Page-Turner). This week I’m talking about all those books I probably wouldn’t have read had it not been for the prodding of some other bookish people. So, here’s my top ten books I’m glad people recommended to me because I would have for sure skipped over them/not have known they existed/judged based on the cover alone.”

1. Harry Potter series – My grandma gave me this book for Christmas one year. I tried to read it many times but I just could not get past the first five chapters. It was boring (an opinion I still maintain about the first five chapters). Then in eighth grade (nine years ago) my then boyfriend told me that I could not judge the book without actually getting through the book. Harry Potter is the only good thing I got out of that relationship (cheated on my with my then best friend). Anyway, I love the Harry Potter series and just recently finished re-reading them.
2. Twilight – A friend of mine from college recommended that I read this book. I loved the first one. However, I hate the other three. So I am glad to have read the first one, but that is the only Twilight series book that I read (I have re-read it about five or six times).
3. Da Vinci Code – I was lurking on facebook and I saw that one of my best friends from Middle School had listed this book as a favorite of hers. I had “heard” a lot of controversy surrounded this book, but I had never read it. I immediately went out and read it and I loved it, which led to me reading Dan Brown’s other books and I love his books. I always love a good mystery and Dan Brown’s a really interesting to me.
4. Wither – No one really recommended this book to me… I just saw it reviewed on a lot of blogs and so I went out and bought it. I am half-way through it right now, but I love it. It is a great book and I never would have gone out and read it without all the great reviews.
5. The Hunger Games – Wow, I love this series. After Harry Potter, this is my favorite book series. This was a group read on Goodreads. I loved it and I have spread it around to many of my friends and family and they all love it as well.
6. Sweet Valley – Yeah, I know, lame… but in High School and Middle School, I loved them. The girls in my school passed them around quiet a bit, so I would say all the girls who read them would be the ones who recommended it to me.
7. Truth or Die – This is a series of mystery type things that happened in a college. The series is called Nightmare Hall. I really enjoyed this book in High School. Truth and Die is the first book I read and it would recommended to me by my ex-best friend (see #1). The book has one of the best prologues I have ever read. I have re-read the book several times, but I have re-read the prologue a hundred times. I love it.
8. Sarah Dessen books – One of the girls in my hall in college recommended Sarah Dessen to me and I have loved all of her books that I have read. I plan on reading all of them. I love how she addresses the big issues that teens face. Sarah Dessen is one of my favorite author’s.
9. The Kite Runner – I love, love, LOVE this book. This is a great book. It was required reading in one of my college classes so I am counting it as recommended from the Professor. This is definitely one of those books I would have never picked up on my own and I am so glad that I read it. It is amazing.
10. Wondrous Strange – I don’t remember which blog this was reviewed on. I think that Christy from the Story Siren. I don’t usually read paranormal books and other than Artemis Fowl, I have never read a book about Faeries. But this is a great series and I love it. I am about to start the second book and I am so looking forward to it. If you haven’t read this series, then I highly recommend it.

Anyway, those are my top ten favorite recommended books. What are yours? Have you missed any of these series, because if so, this is me recommending them to you…

 

Quick Update

So, for the most part, I have taken a short break from reading. I finished reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and I read 100 pages of The True Story of Hansel and Gretel by Louise Murphey. I have also read 200 pages of Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly. I was listening to it on audio but the voices really irritated me and I discovered that I would probably prefer the book if I was reading it and not listening to horribly cliche French accents. Anyway, my partial book holiday is so that I don’t burn myself out before the readathon! I am so excited for it.

I have 32 books checked out from the library and 2 books I own. Wow, that is a ridiculous amount! Take a look at my list and tell me if you have any recommendations on ones you think I should start off reading:

• Poison Study
• Madame Tussaud
• Shades of Grey
• Goodnight Tweetheart
• The Sister Wife
• The Book of Tomorrow
• Wondrous Strange
• She’s So Dead to Us
• Some Girls Are
• Jekel Love Hyde
• One Night that Changes Everything
• Cracked Up to Be
• Snow Treasure
• Sean Griswold’s Head
• Annexed
• Forget-Her-Nots
• Leviathan
• The Mockingbirds
• Beastly
• The Beautiful Between
• The Lying Game
• Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter
• Revolution
• Perfect Mistake
• Sweet Deceit
• Pure Sin
• Alone
• Wither (own)
• Incarceron (own)
• Lost in a Good Book (audio)
• The Well of Lost Plots (audio)
• Something Rotten (audio)
• Outlander (audio)
• My Name is Mary Sutter (audio)
• A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (audio)
• War & Peace (audio)

Wow, that was a lot of books! I think I have a problem (checking too many books out from the library).

In addition, I like to donate money to my favorite charity, RAINN, which stands for Rape, Abuse, & Incest National Network. As a victim of rape, I am a firm believer in this charity. They help people who are victims of rape or incest. They have a 24-hour network which you can contact via phone or a chat on their website. In addition, they help people who have been victims of abuse.

If you do not have a foundation you want to support in particular please pick this one. There are so many victims out there and this is a foundation that tries to help as much as they can. As an addition, during the month of April, any donation will be matched up to $30,000. If you want to match my donation or anything like that, please let me know. Because I am an unemployed college graduation (damn this economy), I can only do about a penny a page. I know this isn’t a lot, but this is one foundation I truly believe in and I want to do whatever I can to help them out.

So are you reading for a cause? If so, which one?

 

Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB ofShould Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

 

A dress for $24.99? Is that a payment plan $24.99 now and pay the rest later? How can an adult dress $24.99? Well, the dress does have boob cups and a very oddly placed flower.

-Where I Belong, pg. 138

“I laughed because – because -” The dam that kept my tears back sprang a leak. “Because he didn’t know what to call a pocket pencil sharpener.” I hid my eyes in my hands, letting the sobs come at will, regulating their own intensity and volume.

- Summer of My German Soldier, pg. 101

“Metal clicked against metal. A leather belt rushed through fabric loops. As the belt whipped backward, I saw…”

-Summer of My German Soldier, pg. 124

What are you reading right now? Do you have any great quotes to share?

 

Booking Through Thursday

Booking Through Thursday is hosted by Booking Through Thursday. The Question for this Thursday is: Do you cheat and peek at the ends of books? (Come on, be honest.)

Wow, this is a great question. I mean, I am a person who hate surprises. I try to bribe my family into telling me what they got my for presents before the fact. I just hate surprises all together. So for this, you would think that I would look at the end, but that is only half-true. When it comes to books, I have to be careful with looking at the end. Some times when I read the endings of books, I never end up finishing them. One example of this is The Weight of Silence. The suspense had become too much for me and I looked at the end. Upon doing this, all of the suspense was gone and I never finished reading it. However, sometimes when I read the end or I read the summary, it makes me want to read it even more because I want to see how they got there. There are some books I can read over and over again, even knowing the ending, and others that upon knowing the ending, I can never read it again. So I have to say that it depends on the ending and whether it disappoints me or if I am okay with it.

What about you? Do you read the end before or not? Why or why not?

 

WWW Wednesday

To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…

• What are you currently reading?
• What did you recently finish reading?
• What do you think you’ll read next?

My answers:

What are you currently reading?

I am currently reading several books. I am reading Kissing Tennessee and Other Stories from the Stardust Dance by Kathi Appelt; Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling; Beastly by Alex Finn; and The Book of Spells by Kate Brian. I am loving all of these books! I can’t wait to see the movie Beastly. I have always love the Harry Potter series and I am experience HP #4 for the first time in the audio format. It is interesting to hear all of the voices, though I find the voice for Hermione to be whiny and annoying.

What did you recently finish reading?

Since my last WWW Wednesday meme, I read Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer (review); Don’t Judge a Girl by Her Cover by Ally Carter (review); and The Lady Elizabeth by Alison Weir (review).  For me, three books in a week is pretty good. It helps that two of them were audios… I hope to get at least three done for next week as well.

What do you think you’ll read next?

The books I think I will read next include Only the Good Spy Young by Ally Carter; Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Greene; and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling. I may start some others but I do not know yet.

What is your WWW Wednesday? Do you have any good books to recommend? Sorry this is so late (45 minutes before midnight PST).

 

Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB ofShould Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My teaser:

The there was the turning of their doorknob, and bits of Daddy began to slip through – first his hand, then his arm, then the word “Dinner” followed by his mouth, his nose, and finally his eyes, eyes that narrowed sharply when he saw his oldest daughter’s painted lips.

“Why, you little Jezebel!” He spit the word as if it were poison. Mary Sarah couldn’t take her eyes off his.”

Kissing Tennessee and Other Stories from the Stardust Dance by Kathi Appelt (pg. 21-22)

Catherine looked up, her eyes wide with fright. Theresa grabbed for her, but it was too late. The limb came crashing down. Catherine’s body crumbled like a rag doll’s, and she tumbled backward into the chasm.

The Book of Spells by Kate Brian (pg. 206)

What are your Tuesday Teasers? What are you reading?

 

It’s Monday, What Are You Reading?

Today’s meme is It’s Monday, What Are You Reading? is hosted by Book Journey.

Wow, I have read much since my last Monday meme. I will get to what I have read on Wednesday. I am currently listening to The Lady Elizabeth by Alison Weir. I have two discs left so I should finish that in about two hours. After that, I will start listening to Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowlings. I am also listening to Beastly by Alex Finn. I am reading Kissing Tennessee and Other Stories from the Stardust Dance by Kathi Appelt and Book of Spells from Kate Brian. I am also listening to War & Peace by Leo Tolstoy, though it has been a month since I last listened and so I need to keep listening to that again. I admit that I am only continuing to listen to this because I want to say that I have read War & Peace at the end of it.

So, what are you reading this month?

Musing Mondays is a bookish meme hosted by MizB on Should be reading.

This week’s musing asks…

Which do you prefer: Adult -or- Young Adult books? Or, both? Why?

I prefer Young Adult Books. I feel like that don’t try to be all hoity toity in their wording and like they are so above it all. In addition, I like the characters better, in general. I feel like many young adult books don’t have those hidden agendas (feminism, gender, sex, race, etc). I get so annoyed by that in many adult novels. However, when it comes to mysteries, I prefer Adult mysteries. They have the better plot and the answer doesn’t tend to scream at you off of the page. However, when looking around my bookshelves, I see about a 50/50 split between Young Adult and Adult novels.

So what do you prefer? Young Adult or Adult novels?