March 8th – Favorite Science Fiction & Fantasy Books *BooktubeSFF Awards Crossover Topic!*
–In collaboration with the BooktubeSFF Awards, talk about your favorite science fiction and fantasy books of all time!

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SCIENCE FICTION

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Cinder (The Lunar Chronicles #1) by Marissa Meyer

This is the first novel in The Lunar Chronicles, this isn’t the best book in the series but overall, this series is a really fun and enjoyable science fiction series.

These Broken Stars (Starbound #1) by Amie Kaufman & Meagan Spooner

I haven’t had the chance to re-read this trilogy yet but I loved each novel in the series. I plan on re-reading this trilogy in the next year or two, it’s a sci-fi novel that is actually in space and actually has science fiction aspects.

FANTASY

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Caraval (Caraval #1) by Stephanie Garber

I read this book last week and honestly, I loved it! It’s a completely new idea – which is certainly new for Young Adult! It surrounds a week-long treasure hunt game show. The main character and her sister have wanted to go to Caraval for years and they suddenly get the chance to go. Early into the story Scarlett’s (the main character) sister goes missing (this is not a spoiler – it’s in the blurb) and so Scarlett has to find her by the end of Caraval.

It’s a brilliant novel with an original plot and plot twists around every corner – I urge you to pick it up!

Skulduggery Pleasant (Skulduggery Pleasant #1) by Derek Landy

I haven been talking about this series a lot for the past 6 months or so, so I’m sure it’s pretty obvious by now that I really enjoy this series. The characters are sassy and badass and the plot is unique and different. This is a really great series for people of all ages, I read the entire series last year and really loved it and I recently got my brother (a 10 year old) into the series and he is loving it!

Harry Potter (Harry Potter #1) by J. K. Rowling

Everyone and their dog has read these books or seen these movies so it’s pretty obvious that they are great fantasy novels.

February 22nd: Books to Get You Out of a Reading Slump
– Winter is a hard season for a lot of people and many of us are slumpy. Let’s talk about some books that are great for getting you out of a slump!

Back in January I wrote a post on How To: Get Out Of A Reading Slump which also has some book suggestions. 

01 Twilight by Stephanie Meyer

Let’s start with the obvious, anyone who grew up with Twilight or got really into in their teenage years knows that these books are really easy to read and that the plot is really simple. Naturally, this book is really helpful when you need o get out of a slump.

02 The Evil Librarian by Michelle Knudsen

Following on from the same vein as Twilight Evil Librarian has a pretty simple plot with pretty generic characters but it’s fun to read. Last year, I got into a bit of a reading slump while also being sick and I so I picked this up and it got me out of my reading slump.

03 Our Own Private Universe by Robin Talley

I have’t finished this book yet but what I read of this last month managed to get me out of my reading slump at the start of the year.

04 Silver Surfer Volume 1: New Dawn by Dan Slott

This comic series is amazing! Silver Surfer is a really interesting and new kind of character and I really enjoy this series!

05 The Deep Volume 1: Here Be Dragons by Tom Taylor 

Okay, so this series is only two comics so far but it is really fun – there’s no romance and it focuses mostly on friendships and family relationships. There aren’t enough novels or comics with only familial friendships, as a lot of stories seem to focus more on romance which can get quite boring at times.

February 15th: Favourite Non-Written Novels
– This was a hard topic to name, but this is about all books that are not ‘written’ novels! So graphic novels, comics, manga, audiobooks, etc. Shed some light on books in other forms.

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HAHA! MY TIME HAS COME!

COMICS

01 Nova series by Jeph Loeb

02 Spider-Verse by Dan Slott

These two comic series are my favourites so of course I had to talk about them. I’ve said this before but Nova is just Spider-Man in space, and being a massive Spidey fan this really appeals to me. Spider-Verse was the first comic series I ever read – I only started it last year so I am a late bloomer when it comes to comics. I was given the 600 page omnibus for Christmas in 2015 and ended up reading it in a day.

AUDIOBOOKS

03 The Cormoran Strike series written by Robert Galbraith & narrated by Robert Glenister

These are probably my favourite audiobooks of all time, I just love how the narrator does Cormoran Strike’s character – his voice is exactly how I pictured the character to sound.

04 Harry Potter series written by J. K. Rowling & narrated by Stephen Fry

This series is narrated by multiple people but I have to say that I much prefer the Stephen Fry version. I once tried to listen to the Jim Dale version and couldn’t get through the first chapter.

05 The Raven Cycle written by Maggie Stiefvater & narrated by Will Patton

I have only listened to the last book in this series on audio but I have sine bought the others. I really enjoyed listening to it so I’m hoping to listen to the whole series later in the year. I found that the audio was really helpful for me because I often forgot how the characters were meant to sound.

December 21st – Fictional Items You’d Give as Gifts
We’ve talked about fictional items we’ve wanted for ourselves before, but in the holiday spirit, what fictional items would you give to friends and family?

Gift giving is one of my favourite things to do. Almost everyone important in my life hates the act and finds it boring but I love it. As soon as Christmas finishes I’m already planning birthdays and the next Christmas. I take down notes throughout the entire year so I can try and compile  gift that shows who I think the person is and what how they’ve changed over the year.

01 Remembrall for the forgetful friend.

02 Broomstick for the sporty friend.

03 Seeing Stone from Spiderwick Chronciles for the open minded friend.

04 Protective clothing made by Ghastly Bespoke for the adventurous friend.

05 Magical Item – Invisible baseball cap for the friend who needs some alone time.

Bonus -> A fictional item I’d want as a gift

01 I’d really appreciate a wand, after seeing Fantastic Beasts and seeing how domestic Queenie was with her magic it’s really inspired me. Magic doesn’t have to be fantastic or over the top, it can just be something simple to help you dry your clothes or cook dinner if you’re on a tight schedule.

That being said, if anyone wanted to get me a Bowtruckle I wouldn’t say no.

December 14th – Series That Got Worse with Each Book/Season
I opened this topic up to TV as well (which T5W is always open to by the way if you can’t think of book answers), but I think this topic is especially good for books and TV. What series started out strong but got increasingly worse with each book?

01 Shatter Me 

I read the entire trilogy as well of the novellas. Because I loved the first book so much I was in a bit of denial concerning the rest of the series. I hated the second book and I really didn’t like the main character, or any character who wasn’t Kenji or Adam’s brother, to be honest. I read the rest of the books, I think out of spite, I was almost finished with the series so I wasn’t going to leave in the middle. A lot of people love this series, and all of the other books and shows on this list, but it just wasn’t for me.

02 Supernatural

I watched to around season 7 – 9 of the show but honestly, I was holding on, I really wasn’t enjoying it past around season 5. For me the show became too religious and about hell and honestly by this point, how many times have the brothers been demons?

03 The Mortal Instruments 

I have read all six novels in The TMI series and if I’m honest I did enjoy (3 stars) the first 3 novels. That being said, I was very young when I read the first novels and I think if I read this series for the first time now I wouldn’t even make it through the whole of the first novel.

04 New Girl

I binge-watched the first few seasons of the show and was laughing  constantly. But when the show came back on air for the next season, I don’t know if it was because I wasn’t watching a season a week but I just wasn’t as engrossed as I was before. I have since seen tid bits of the show on Tumblr, and it just doesn’t look as funny as previous seasons.

05 Arrow

I really loved seasons 1 and 2 of Arrow. For a while it was my favourite show, I was seriously obsessed. However when season 3 started the show became a bit more romance based and some characters didn’t get as much screen time as before, because of this I didn’t really enjoy the show as much. I tried to watch season 4 but didn’t even get halfway through the season.

December 7th – Books You Want to Finally Read in 2017
These are those books you meant to read in 2016 or 2015 or 2014 and never got around to. Those books that have been sitting on your TBR for a while, and you really want to get to. These aren’t upcoming 2017 releases; these are older books that need your love too!

01 Steelheart (Reckoners #1) by Brandon Sanderson

I plan on reading the concluding novel in the Mistborn trilogy this month, as I’ve really enjoyed the previous two novels in this trilogy. Because The Final Empire is one of my favourite books of 2016 and possibly of all time, I think it makes sense to read more of the author’s works. I’ve heard amazing things about all of his novels but I’ve heard the most about this series so I think I’ll start here.

02 A Darker Shade of Magic (Shades of Magic #1) by V.E. Schwab

I tried to read this a few months ago but only got a chapter in before I had to return it to the library. From what I read, I know this is definitely a series that I want to read. I’ve heard amazing things about his book and all of the author’s works so I’ll have to give them a try in the future as well.

03 Six of Crows (Six of Crows #1) by Leigh Bardugo

It feels like everyone has read this duology and is on Goodreads, sitting behind their laptops and mocking me for not having started it!

04 The Black Prism (Lightbringer #1) by Brent Weeks

As always the hype is what influence my Tbr, and recently Goodreads has been blowing up with this series, everyone is reading it! The magic system sounds really unique and intricate which really intrigues me. High fantasy is one of my top 5 favourite genres so of course I’ll have to get to this soon!

05 The Sword of Summer (Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard #1) by Rick Riordan

I’m a big fan of Rick Riordan’s Greek mythology-related series’ so I’m still shocked that I haven’t picked these up yet. However I did buy the first two novels in the trilogy last month, as the last novel is coming out in 2017. I’ve heard great things about this trilogy and it’s YA which Riordan has never written before so I”m excited to see how or if his writing or characters differ to that of his previous novels.

 

November 23: Books I Want to Re-Read
–Though it seems like we are all constantly chasing the next upcoming release, let’s take a trip down memory lane and talk about some books that we’d like to re-visit.

01  The Raven Cycle – Maggie Stiefvater 

Like so many people I love this series, but have only read it once. Naturally, it being a favourite series of mine I’ve wanted to re-read it ever since The Raven King came out.

I have been planning on re-reading this series but because we’re coming into the far end of the year I think I’ll end up re-reading this series next year.

02 The Lunar Chronicles – Marissa Meyer 

I have re-read some of the books at the beginning of the series so I know this is definitely a re-readable series. Like with TRC I also have plans to re-read this series next year. Writing this post is getting me super hyped to re-read these books again!

03 Charm and Strange – Stephanie Kuehn 

I read this a few years ago and I loved it. This book is terrible and emotional and completely wonderful.

04 Far Far Away – Tom McNeal

I read Far Far Away around the same time I read Charm and Strange and I loved it! This was a lovely and unique story and I am so glad that I read it.

05 The Rig – Joe Ducie 

I loved this when I read this a few years ago, I’d never read anything like this before. It’s set in a different setting to what I’ve read in other books.

October 5th: Books That Took You the Longest to Finish
– These are the books that you had on your nightstand “in progress” for months or years. The books that you took weeks to read because they put you in a slump. Those books that were an uphill battle. These are books you started and actually read, not books you’ve just had on your shelf the longest.

• 01 A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire #2) – George R.R. Martin || Review ||

I started this book in early April last year and got roughly 200 pages in, which is an accomplishment in itself because these books are huge! After that I put it down and didn’t pick it up until September, but I couldn’t really remember what had happened so I  started it again. I read it pretty much religiously throughout that whole month until I was almost 600 pages in. And then… I didn’t pick it up again until July this year.

It was a long process, but I eventually got through it. I have been meaning to pick up the next novel but, because the books are soo big I’ve been putting it off. Have you guys read the books?

 

• 02 Looking for Alibrandi – Melina Marchetta

I had to read this novel for class, so that combined with the bratty and annoying protagonist had me avoiding this novel like the plague and procrastinating by reading other books. It took me a month too long to read this book and, while I understand the importance of the novel and do think it’s a good book for teenagers to read, it just wasn’t me cup of tea.

• 03 Their Fractured Light – Amie Kaufman & Meagan Spooner

I loved this book, and I knew I was going to love it before I had even read it. That was my whole problem with the novel, I knew I would love the novel and I had been waiting for the novel for hat felt like forever (a year, I know, I’m a wuss). So naturally nice I’d finally got he novel in my hands I couldn’t pick it up because I didn’t ant it to end (I had the same problem with The Raven King).

• 04 Crescendo (Hush, Hush #2) – Becca Fitzpatrick

I read Hush Hush a few years ago and honestly, back when I read it for the first time I really loved it so naturally I ordered the next 3 books in the series. I started reading this years later, sometime in 2013 and then finally managed to finish it in the en of December 2014.

I thought Crescendo was a bit of a pointless, and plotless read and from what I’ve gathered the next book is just going to be a re-write of book 1. I honestly don’t know if I’ll actually finish the rest of the series but as far as I’m concerned it would probably take me years to complete the series anyway.

• 05 The Ocean at the End of the Lane – Neil Gaiman

Ahhhh, this book. I’ve only ever read three Neil Gaiman books but I think it’s safe to say that his books are just not my cup of tea. I’ve read Coraline and Stardust and had the same problem that I had with this one, I just can’t deal with his writing.

I didn’t really care for the plot of this book but the main problem with this book, that evidently is the reason it took me soo long to read this book. The writing is weird and too whimsical for me, unfortunately it just put me off the novel.

September 28, 2016: Gateway Books to Your Favourite Genre
– What books do you think are good to introduce people to your favorite genre? If you have more than one favorite genre, feel free to split it up to cover both.

Top 5 Wednesday

01 LGBTQ+

It really depends what kinds of books you like to read.

If you really like heavily character based books with magical elements then The Raven Cycle series by Maggie Stiefvater is the one for you!

If you like novels where the character’s sexuality isn’t part of the plot then Everything Leads to You, Beauty Queens and Every Heart A Doorway are the books for you.

  

If you want quick and meaningful stories about kids finding themselves then you really should read Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda and Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe.

 

02 High Fantasy:

The Mistborn series by Brandon Sanderson

The King Killer Chronicle by Patrick Rothfuss is also a good way to get into the genre – it’s not too complex. It’s also pretty popular so if you don’t understand something about the world you could probably find something online.

 

The ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’ series by George R. R. Martin is also really good but it is REALLY complex and has a crazy amount of characters. 

03 Middle-Grade

The Doors Trilogy – When I was younger I absolutely loved this series and having reread it again recently I can say that it is still really enjoyable.

Wonderstruck or The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick – these books are pretty long but they go between pictures and text so half of the novel is told through just pictures and the other half through text.

 

The Amulet Series – My younger brother and I really enjoy this series. It’s fantasy, there’s talking robots, cute dragons and an awesome quest.

Harry Potter and Percy Jackson – I picked up PJO after I finally got out of my refuse-to-read-anything-but-HP slump and loved it! I have since reread the series a million times and still think about it all the time – the narration is hilarious andd the characters stay with you forever. HP is a given, a great series for everyone.

The Alex Rider series – When I was in primary school this series was my shit, I read and reread this series constantly ( that is, when I wasn’t rereading Harry Potter for the millionth time). Who doesn’t love a series about about a teenage boy saving the world?

04 Classics

The Little Prince – This is a short, interesting read. It’s a middle-grade novel but anyone can read it.

Peter Pan – People say this is a childrens novel and I guess it is but I don’t know if it is entirely appropriate. If the child is mature I suppose it may be okay but Peter is seriously insane so it really does depend on the child.

The Giver – This is one of my favourite books of all time. I cannot recommend it enough.

Anything by Austen – If you’re first geting into Austen’s novels you might want to start off with her most famous novel, Pride and Prejudice.

Pretty much anything by Shakespeare – Try starting off with Macbeth or Romeo and Juliet.

If you’re having trouble reading any of the books try watching an adaptation.

 

05 Retellings:

The Lunar Chronicles – this is a really great companion series, I’ve read it twice and loved it both times. Definitely recommend!

The Dorothy Must Die series is also a good way to get into retellings.
First & Then is also a good retelling of Pride and Prejudice – it’s set in high school.