Bout of Books 13: Bookish Survey

Bookish Survey Challenge

This challenge is hosted by Writing My Own Fairy Tail 

1. How do you organize your shelves?

Currently, I have no shelves due to the fact that half of my books are at my permanent home address and the other half are here at my temporary university home address. At my permanent home my books are piled up in a dresser where as at my temporary home they've been placed inside a plastic box under my bed. So, it's all very unorganized.

2. What is one of your favorite book that’s not in one of your favorite genres?

The Picture of Dorian Grey by Oscar Wilde is one of my favorite books which is not in one of my favorite genres. I don't read many classics but this story has always fascinated me. My favorite genres are young adult fiction, dystopian and romantic.

3. What is the last 5 star book you read?

The last 5 star book I read was My True Love Gave To Me by Various Authors (Edited by Stephanie Perkins) I really enjoyed many of the various stories within this book and managed to review them all on this blog.

4. What book are you most excited to read during the read-a-thon?

I'm most excited to read and complete Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J. K. Rowling. I set myself the goal of reading all the Harry Potter books this year and feel that I am on top of this goal. I'm really enjoying the story so far and the writing is truly flawless.

5. What book do you recommend the most?

I recommend Adorkable by Sarra Manning as I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It had so many hilariously witty lines with in it and the characters were relate-able which helped to draw me into the story.

Happy Reading 

:)

xx

January Wrap Up

 This month I feel like I successfully reached my goal of reading about 3 books a month and have gotten this year's reading challenge off to a good start. I hope I can continue in this way and reach my book goal or even pass it. Here's a little wrap up of what I have achieved in January.

Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone by J. K. Rowling

I started the year by rereading the first Harry Potter book and I loved it. I even made myself a Pottermore account so that I could interact with each chapter and every bit of the story. J. K Rowling's writing is so easy to read and this series is so well thought out it was hard to put the book down. I ended up starting and finishing this book within a week.

A Book That Became A Movie

A Book By A Female Author

Dash and Lily's Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan

I read this book during the second week of January and it helped to make the feeling of Christmas linger for a little bit longer. I liked the way that this story was written from two point of views, Dash and Lily's, and the fact that their personalities were so different from each others. It was obvious from the start they were either going to get along really well or just clash with each other.

A Book Set During Christmas

My True Love Gave To Me Edited by Stephanie Perkins

I decided to review the stories in this book individually and I'm glad I did so because some were amazing and made me want to read more of the different author's works, where as others didn't. I posted all my reviews on this blog so feel free to check them out. Also, please comment telling me what you thought of the different stories as I would love to hear other people's opinions.

A Book Of Short Stories

A Book Set During Christmas

The Iron Trials by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare

I continued to read this book in the third week of January but due to having deadlines and other work I needed to do I haven't yet gotten to the end. I aim to have this book finished in February. So far, I am quite enjoying this book and Call's character is written with a hint of humor behind him which makes him fun to read about.

A Book From An Author You Love But Haven't Read Yet

A Book You Started But Never Finished

Review - My True Love Gave To Me by Various Authors, Part 2

*This review contains spoilers*

Here is Part 2 of the My True Love Gave To Me review. I have decided to do these reviews in three separate parts because otherwise this post would end up being really long.

It's A Yuletide Miracle, Charlie Brown by Stephanie Perkins

This was another story that I thoroughly enjoyed. It drew me in from the first page because it was so well-written. I felt that this story worked well as a 35 paged short story because there was still some character development involved. There was also a lot of information revealed in a clever way through Marigold's and North's conversations with each other. The setting of the Christmas tree lot gave the story a warm yet wintry feeling. I thought it was cute that Marigold found North's voice intriguing and wanted to use it for her project. This then unfolded to them getting to know each other quite well and realizing that they weren't that different from each other.

"I've always felt lucky to live someplace where snow is rare, you know? It's the rareness that makes it so special." - North

Rating :- ★★★★

Your Temporary Santa by David Levithan



Personally, I thought this story was alright. but not fantastic. It was mostly written from the unnamed protagonist's thoughts which I found interesting. It seems the protagonist was having a bit of a conflict in his head about whether or not he belonged with Connor and his family. It also touched on the idea that a relationship can be kind of easy, as in sometimes it is enough just to be able to hold hands or cuddle that special someone. I got the feeling that the protagonist deeply cared about his boyfriend, Connor, from the fact he dressed up as Santa to surprise Connor's little sister, Riley and to help keep that spark that Santa exists alive for her.

"Our world within this world."

Rating :- ★★★

Krampuslauf by Holly Black

Oh, Holly Black, I love how your mind works! First of all, I'd never even heard of Krampuslauf until I read this story so it was quite nice to read about something different which still had a Christmas element to it. Secondly, I was quite surprised at first that there was no mythological/fantasy element to this story seeing as I know Holly Black is well known for writing stories about mythological/fantasy creatures. After getting to near the end though, that changed when it was revealed that the Krampus was real instead of a boy in a costume. Another element that I enjoyed about this story is that the characters were written in such a way that their different personalities reflected through their speech.

"Maybe it was okay to imagine greater things." - Hanna

Rating :- ★★★★★

Happy Reading
:)
xx