Booking Through Thursday

All other thing being equal, would you rather read a book that’s hard/challenging/rewarding or light/enjoyable/easy?

I would always rather read something light/enjoyable/easy. I read for my pleasure. There are so many other things that I do to increase my mental capacity that when, at the end of the day, I pick up a book, I just want it to be something that I like… something that I don’t have to use too much brain capacity to think about…. Now if I am in the mood for something heavy, then I will read that, because that is what I want to read at that particular moment. But unless I am in the mood for that, it ain’t gonna happen. I like YA books. They have characters I can identify with and themes that are serious, yet not pretencious.

What about ya’ll? Do you like heavy books or light books? Leave a link and let me know!

 

BTT: Soundtrack

 

 

 

What, if any, kind of music do you listen to when you’re reading? (Given a choice, of course!)

 

Most of the time, I prefer to read in total silence because I have the attention span of a knat and if I have background music on, I will distract myself. However, on Pandora I have a station that I called “Study Music” – I made it while in college. Anyway, that channel is built off of Yiruma and any related music. I guess that would be called New Age, though I am not sure. The kind of music I have on when I am reading is very different then the kind of music I listen to when I am not reading. I am a country girl with a mix of rock and pop… lol, it can be sort of eclectic. Anyway, I am going to try to put a youtube link for a Yiruma music video in this post. I have never done this before so I hope it works….

This is The River Flows in You by Yiruma. I find it really emotional. I don’t really like classic music and I like words in my music, but Yiruma (and most especially this song) always makes me feel so peaceful inside. What do you think?

 

 

 

Beastly

Title: Beastly

Author: Alex Flinn

Summary from Goodreads: I am a beast.
A beast!
Not quite wolf or bear, gorilla or dog but a horrible new creature who walks upright. I am a monster.
You think I’m talking fairy tales? No way. The place is New York City. The time is now. It’s no deformity, no disease. And I’ll, stay this way forever ruined unless I can break the spell.
Yes, the spell, the one the witch in my English class cast on me. Why did she turn me into a beast who hides by day and prowls by night? I’ll tell you. I’ll tell you how I used to be Kyle Kingsbury, the guy you wished you were, with money, perfect looks, and the perfect life. And then, I’ll tell you how I became perfectly…beastly.

Personal Review: When I first started this book, I was not sure how I felt about it. I found Kyle to be very whinny and annoying. I was not sympathetic towards him at all. But as the book progressed, I came to enjoy it more and more.

I haven’t read this book since the read-a-thon and a lot of the details have escaped me, including the names of the character, so this will be a quick review.

This book was a fast read and it was a good modern adaptation of a favorite childhood story. I have to admit that when I was a child, I did not like the movie Beauty and the Beast at all because it scared me. But I liked the idea of this story. The whole idea of falling in love with someone for who they are inside, despite who they are on the outside has always appealed to me. And this book does it well.

I also liked the “chats” inbetween the parts in the book with the other characters from Hans Christen Anderson. I loved how it was “moderated” by Mr. Anderson and it had Froggie (from Princess and the Frog) and Silent Maiden (from Little Mermaid) and a host of other characters. I think the book would have also been entertaining if it had all been told through this chat form.

Anyway, sorry for the totally random review without any sense of continuity. I look forward to reading other books by Alex Flinn.

Rating: 4.5/5

What did you all think about this book if you have read it? Have any of you seen the movie? Is it worth seeing?

 

Plan B by Charnan Simon

I want to preface my review by saying that I really wanted to like this book. I went into it with high hopes. Actually, after finishing it, I thought that this might be a first novel for the author and was astonished to see that Charnan Simon had published 100 books.

Now to get on to the particulars of my problem with this book. First and foremost, there was very little to no character development in this novel. I don’t even think there were even descriptions of what the characters looked like. To me, this book read like a short prewrite with room continue and fill in the holes. I actually checked to see if I had received the whole novel because it did not read like a complete story. It read like a children’s book with young adult topics.

And then there was the ending. I totally did not know what to make of it because it was so incomplete. I felt like it could have used another hundred pages at least. Like I said, I really wanted to like this book, but it just had too many problems for me to really get into it.

I have it a 2/5 and that might just be because I wanted to like it so much.

 

November 13th Read-a-thon for hunger

Hey all!

I don’t know if anyone actually still follows my totally speratic blogs, but just in case, I thought I would let you all know that on November 13th there will be a read-a-thon for hunger. Essentially, for every hour that you read on the 13th (a Saturday) you donate one dollar or one canned goods item to your local food bank. This is a really great cause and it doesn’t require a lot of your time. If you read for two hours, give two dollars, if you read for 5, give five dollars. If you decide to be really ambitious, you can aim for 24 hours and donate 24 dollars. I am also sure that food banks wouldn’t object to getting a higher donation… Anyway, for more information, or to sign up, go to http://readathonforhunger.blogspot.com/ and help out those less fortunate in this time of Thanksgiving!

I know that I will be participating as much as I can (I work on Saturday mornings, so it will be hampered a little bit) and I hope to see you all there! Leave a comment and tell me if this is something you are interested in participating or if you will be participating in it. If so, you can follow me on the blog or on my twitter account. My twitter account is katesbooksnooks.

Now go off and read a book!!!

 

End of South

I finally finished that horrible non-fiction book “South” by Ernest Shackleton. Here is my recommendation to readers… spare yourself. Only read this book if you (1) don’t plan on listening to it via audiobook, (2) like non-fiction books about exploring places with nothing but snow -which leads to over 400 pages of nothing but lack of food and abundance of frostbite and destruction of ships, and (3) you want to be bored out of your mind. Now, to be honest, I have to admit that I blanked out during much of “South” so it could be better than I am making it out to be… I doubt it, but I know my reading tastes aren’t the same of everyone elses. Luckily for me, the last 4 audio sessions were appendix so I did not need to listen to them!

In terms of the 24-hour labor day read-a-thon, I have completed 15 hours. So it took me 15 hours to listen to that drabble and what do I immediately do? Do I pick up something nice and not difficult, like Sarah Dessen or Meg Cabot or J.K. Rowling? Something I know I will enjoy and don’t require massive amounts of brain usage? Nope… I put on Macbeth on audiobook. Now, to give Librivox some credit, all of the characters are played by someone else. However, I have always struggled with William Shakespeare. I don’t like “old” stuff. I really should be looking at the script while listening to it because I cannot for the life of me keep the voices straight.

I have to make another confession, dear audience. I do not do well with audiobooks. I am not able to learn things by just listening to it. I am a visual learner. As a matter of fact, I only put on audiobooks when I have to multi-task, but still want to get out some of the tasks for the Seasonal Reading Challenge. I probably shouldn’t count them as points… But I am going to because I did half-listen to them.

Hour 15 update:
South by Ernest Shackleton- complete 34/34 podcasts (448 pages)
Macbeth by William Shakespeare – in progress 2/6 podcasts

 

End of Hour 9

So I took several breaks for some family time, which is why it is 2 in the morning and I am only about to start hour 10. I am still listening to South and it still sucks. I did not take the Sarah Dessen mental health break, but that might be because I took some family time breaks. I just counted up all of the time I still have to listen to this horrible book and I have around 8.5 hours. BLAH! I have to go to church in 6 hours so I think I might pull an all-nighter and then take a nap after church before continuing with my read-a-thon.

Hour 9 UPDATE: 22/37 podcasts listened to.

 

5 hours down…

Well, I have been going at it for 5 hours. I took a 30 minutes meal break, but that time isn’t included in the 5 hours. I am still listening to South and it is so painfully boring… but I don’t want to stop or I will feel like all my time has been wasted. I do not recommend South to anyone who do not like non-fiction.  If you do like non-fiction books about exploring desolate parts of the world, then I recommend that you look into this book. I might have to take an hour long Sarah Dessen mental health break… We will see.

Hour 5 update: 12/37 podcasts listened to.