Top Ten Tuesday #29

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

Top Ten Books People Have Been Telling Me That I MUST Read

1. Paper Towns by John Green
Or anything by John Green although I've already read some of his books. Everyone recommends him now that TFIOS has been adapted into a movie. 

2. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

3. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

4. The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

5. My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult

6. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson

7. The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides

8. The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards

9. Across the Universe by Beth Revis

10. Me, Earl, and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews

Have you read any of these? Would you recommend them? Anything else you would recommend I read? 

Bout of Books 11.0 - Day 1 Part 2

Bout of Books 11.0 Read-a-thon

Day 1 - Part 2 

Book Scavenger Hunt

Hosted by TheBookMonsters

I thought I'd take the time to do this in photos (taken today) from my actual bookshelves! I don't have Instagram (I know, I know, I'm one of the last) but I posted them all on my Twitter account! Enjoy! 

1. A Book that begins with “B”  (for Bout of Books!)

Breathe: A Ghost Story by Cliff McNish
(Possibly one of the books I'll be reading this October!) 

2. A book that has been made into a movie/tv show

Child of God by Cormac McCarthy
(One of the books I'm reading during this read-a-thon.)
I took this before I started. Can you tell that I'm expecting this book to be disturbing?
It might not be one you've heard of but it was just adapted into a film by James Franco which is why I'm eager to read it. 

3. A series you love

I know this is super predictable but I really do love the Harry Potter series and always will. 

4. An anthology of poems or short stories

I've been reading poems from this old anthology out loud to my baby girl almost every night for the past month. 

5. A book on your TBR shelf, or your full TBR shelves

Definitely not my FULL TBR shelf (which is in my office and two books deep) but this is the smaller pile that I keep in the living room where I will see them and be reminded that I can replace them if I just read some! The missing few are books that I am planning on reading during this read-a-thon. Also, The Giver would be a re-read before I watch the movie. 

MY READ-A-THON PROGRESS

Day 1

Book 1: Finished

Pages: 120/120

Like Pickle Juice on a Cookie by Julie Sternberg

This is the first in a children's trilogy that I received from the author. They are quite short and illustrated so I could have flown though all 3 today but I decided to read them out loud to my baby girl in utero and will be reading one a day. (I'm determined to raise a little reader so my fiance and I have been reading out loud to her before she could even physically hear.) 

Book 2: Currently Reading

Pages: 50/186

Child of God by Cormac McCarthy 

This book is really weird so far. I wouldn't recommend it unless you enjoy violent literature. 

Bout of Books 11.0 - Day 1

Bout of Books 11.0 Read-a-thon

DAY 1 

I'm a little late getting started since it's almost noon and I still haven't started reading but what's a little more time wasted on making a blog post gonna hurt? 

Bout of Books read-a-thons are always fun. This is only my second one but I enjoyed the last one I participated in! I might not have time to join in on the challenges every day but today I will make a point to do a little bit! 

If you want to know more about today's challenges, go check out the 'Schedule of Events'! 

One thing they are asking us to do today is to introduce ourselves by taking a photo with our reading pile! 

So, here I am with the pile of books that I chose in my GOALS list:

If you are new here, my name is Stacy Renee and I love to read! I'm currently expecting with my first child so I've been very busy and not reading as much as I usually would so I'm using this read-a-thon as a motivator to tackle a very small portion of my TBR pile this week! 

I probably won't catch the Twitter chat but I really want to do the Book Scavenger Hunt! I'll probably post it later with my end of the day update. As for now, if I don't get started reading soon I'll never finish this pile! 

Happy Reading! 

Want to join in on the read-a-thon fun?
There's still time to SIGN UP!!!

Bout of Books 11.0 Read-a-thon GOALS

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, August 18th and runs through Sunday, August 24th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure, and the only reading competition is between you and your usual number of books read in a week. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 11 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team

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We're only a day or two away from the start of the read-a-thon and I still have no idea what I'm going to read! I did a sign-up post but forgot about the goals! 

So, I'm going to spend this post throwing together a pile of short, quick reads from my personal library to possibly read. Maybe keeping a pile in my view will help me read a little bit more than I have in the past few months! 

So the MAYBE'S are: 

 Child of God by Cormac McCarthy

James Franco adapted this into a film recently (I think it released August 1st) and I added it to my 'Books to Movies I'm Anticipating List' so I definitely need to read it so I can watch the film. 

Night by Elie Wiesel

This one is pretty short, on a lot of lists, and I've been putting it off for too long. 

Like Pickle Juice On A Cookie by Julie Sternberg

Like Bug Juice on A Burger by Julie Sternberg

Like Carrot Juice on A Cupcake by Julie Sternberg

I was sent these by the author a few months ago and have yet to get around to them. They are short, simple, and illustrated so I am definitely going to push myself to read these this week! 

Cinder by Marissa Meyer

I really wanted to hold off on reading Cinder until I could at least get my hands on Scarlet but I've been waiting so long and I really want to read it now.

Nantucket Blue by Leila Howard

I didn't get around to reading this last year and meant to read it over the summer. Technically August is still summer so I still have time, right? 

Here's to hoping that I can find the time during this read-a-thon week to read a few of these! 

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Are you participating in the Bout of Books 11.0 Read-a-thon? What are you planning on reading? 

Stacking the Shelves #29

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by TYNGA'S REVIEWS that features the books we bought, borrowed, were gifted, and were given for review.

IN MY MAILBOX

One and Only
The Freedom of Having an Only Child, and the Joy of Being One

by Lauren Sandler

If you didn't already know, I am expecting my first child in a few short months. I'm in my late 20's so I still have some time to have more children but I don't know if that will ever happen so we might have just the one child, at least for a few years. I am not an only child (I have 5 siblings!) and I definitely don't know what being an only child is like so I hope to find some insight into parenting a single child through this book. 

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What did you stack your shelves with this week? 

Friday Finds #33

Friday Finds is a blog meme hosted over at Should Be Reading that highlights the books you found and added to your To Be Read list, whether you found them online or in a bookstore and etc. They are not necessarily books that you purchased!

Here are the books I'm showcasing for this week!

Fantasy Friday! 

Fool's Assassin by Robin Hobb
|Goodreads|

The Black Prism by Brent Weeks
|Goodreads|

Enchantress by James Maxwell
|Goodreads|

Top Ten Tuesday #28

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

Top Ten Books I'm Not Sure I Want To Read Anymore

I own all of these and may have wanted to read these books at one point but now I'm not so sure. 

1. The Anita Blake series by Laurell K. Hamilton
I started this series and read the first 3 because my sister loves them but I got very tired of the repetitive descriptions and actions very quickly. 

2. Everlost by Neil Shusterman

I picked this up from a thrift store but my brother-in-law read it before me and told me just about everything that happens in it so I'm not so sure I want to bother anymore. 

3. Fated by Alyson Noel
After reading the first 4 books in her Immortals series (is that what it's called?), I really don't think I want to read anything else by her. Not my style. 

4. Anything by Dean Koontz.
I know he's a popular author but I am easily bored by his simple writing style. I've read a few of his books but they really just remind me of Stephen King knock-offs. I have a few of his mass paperbacks in my 'give away' pile that I will never even bother with. 

5. Wicked by Gregory Macguire

I know this book was made into that broadway musical (?) but I tried reading one of his other books and absolutely hated his writing style. I've been putting off Wicked because of it. 

6. Terry Brooks' 'Shannara' series.
I have 4 'Shannara' books but from what I've seen on Goodreads, there are tons of these books and in what seems to be multiple series so I think it would be difficult to get my hands on all of them and in the right order. 

7. 'Atlas Shrugged' by Ayn Rand

This book is so freaking big and I've heard the worst things about this author's books that I don't even think I'll bother unless I get a wild hair up my bum. 

8. The Vampire Academy series by Richelle Mead

I did read the first in the series but it bored me to death so I most likely won't be finishing them unless my sister talks me into it because it's one of her favorite series. 

9. Pretty Little Liars by Sara Shepherd 

I own the first in the series but after watching the first couple of episodes of the show, I don't think this series is for me. 

10. Gossip Girl by Cecile Von Ziegler

I'll admit that I got a little hooked on the show. A bunch of rich brats ruining their lives and causing problems for their friends? It's not my cup of tea in real life but I guess even I can't pass up a good fictional scandal once in a while. I ended up picking up a few of the books for 10 cents each a couple of years ago but I doubt I'll ever actually read them. 

Do you think I should give any of these books a second chance? What books do you not feel like bothering with anymore?