I had such a great reading month in May. I read a total of 26 books which means my total books read for the year is 70. Of these books, 23 were "real" books making my total "real" books read 63!
"Real" Books:
Audio Books:
Sunday, May 31, 2015
Friday, May 29, 2015
Pop Chart Lab: Product Review
Pop Chart Lab is a company that creates posters, housewares and stationary. Their items are unique in the fact that they include charts of many different topics. They have subjects like beer, flowers, shoes, animals and the list goes on and on. My absolute favorite print of theirs is the "A Plotting of Fiction Genres" poster. It's perfect for us book lovers and I hope to add it to the walls of my future dream library.
I was given the opportunity to choose from a selection of posters to recieve and review. I chose the "A Visual Compendium of Typewriters". This poster was the most bookish to me and I thought the print was really interesting.
The poster came shipped in a tube inside of a box. The tube got a little crushed on one side during shipping, which dented the poster, but you can hardly tell. The poster itself is of great quality. It was printed on sturdy, glossy paper and looks really nice. It would make a beautiful addition to any wall.
I think these posters are great for giving as gifts. They are unique and perfect for that person who already seems to have everything. There are so many choices for different interests.
**I was given a product sample to write an honest review. All opinions are my own and have not been influenced in any way.**
Wednesday, May 27, 2015
Armchair BEA: Introduction Questions
Tell us a bit about yourself: How long have you been blogging? Where are you from? How did you get into blogging?
I wrote my first blog post on 9/24/2009. I started my blog as a place to keep a record of my thoughts on books. I have a bad habit of forgetting why I liked books, so I thought if I were to write down my thoughts, I could come back and read them to remember what I liked about specific books.
What book are you reading right now?
I'm in the middle of a few things at the moment. I'm reading Me and Earl and the Dying Girl so that I'm ready for when the movie comes out in a couple of weeks. I'm reading Hollow City on my ipad as a library book. I'm doing a reread of the Harry Potter series where I'm listening to the audio books as I follow along in the physical books. I'm currently listening to Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince and I'm also listening to Amy Poehler's Yes Please. I'm also working my way through Harry Potter: Magical Places From the Films: Hogwarts, Diagon Alley and Beyond. And last but not least, I'm slowly reading Horns (very slowly; I've been reading it for a few months and I'm only about halfway through.)
What is the top book in your TBR pile?
If you were stranded on a deserted island, what author would you want to bring with you? Why?
J.K. Rowling. Is there really any other answer? I would love to hear her talk about the Wizarding World and hear every detail she left out of the books.
Take a picture of your bookshelf and share it with us! :) (#ABEAShelfie)
I'm currently in a temporary living situation, so this is the only shelf I've got to work with at the moment.
Saturday, May 23, 2015
Love and Other Perishable Items Review
TITLE: Love and Other Perishable ItemsAUTHOR: Laura Buzo
PUBLISHER: Alfred A. Knopf
PUBLICATION DATE: 12/11/2012
FORMAT: Hardcover
PAGES: 243
SOURCE: Bought
MY RATING:
INSIDE COVER SUMMARY: Love is: heart-wrenching, tongue-tying, butterfly-inducing. But most of all, love is awkward.
Amelia should know.
From the moment she sets eyes on Chris, she is a goner. Lost. Sunk. Head over heals infatuated with him. It's problematic, since Chris, 21, is a sophisticated university student, while Amelia, 15, is 15.
Amelia isn't stupid. She knows it's not gonna happen. So she plays it cool around Chris--at least, as cool as she can. Working checkout together at the local supermarket, they strike up a friendship: swapping life stories; bantering about everything from classic books to B movies; and cataloging the many injustices of growing up. Their conversations crackle with wit and repressed longing, and as time goes on, Amelia's crush doesn't seem so one-sided anymore. But if Chris likes her back, what then? Can two people in such different places in life really be together?
OVERALL IMPRESSION: I enjoyed this book. It's a quick contemporary, but it still has depth to it. I feel like it's really relateable because what teenage girl hasn't had a crush on an older boy?
I really enjoyed the references to all of the other books, I just wish I had actually read the books they were referencing so I could know more what they were talking about. But this was a solid, enjoyable book that I would recommend.
CHARACTERS: I liked both Amelia and Chris. I felt that they were believable. Amelia's parents made me angry though. I was extremely agitated about the fact that they would just expose their kids to all of that secondhand smoke and act annoyed when Amelia complained about it.
COVER: The cover is adorable. The mason jar is cute, the font is cute, the layout is cute. Cuteness all around.
Wednesday, May 20, 2015
Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children Review
TITLE: Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar ChildrenAUTHOR: Ransom Riggs
PUBLISHER: Quirk Books
PUBLICATION DATE: 6/7/2011
FORMAT: ebook
PAGES: 352
SOURCE: Library
MY RATING:
SUMMARY (FROM GOODREADS): A mysterious island. An abandoned orphanage. A strange collection of curious photographs.
A horrific family tragedy sets sixteen-year-old Jacob journeying o a remote island off the coast of Wales, where he discovers the crumbling ruins of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. As Jacob explores its abandoned bedrooms and hallways, it becomes clear that the children were more than just peculiar. They may have been dangerous. They may have been quarantined on a deserted island for good reason. And somehow--impossible though it seems--they may still be alive.
OVERALL IMPRESSION: I don't know exactly what I expected this book to be like, but it was a lot different than I thought it would be. I had pretty high hopes before going into this book and I was a little let down. The book was still good, but I guess with everything that I had heard about it, I thought I was going to enjoy it a lot more.
I liked seeing all of the pictures throughout the books. They were super creepy and added to the feel of the story.
I enjoyed learning about all of the peculiars and what each of them could do. I'm excited to see what's going to happen next in the story and also what is going to happen to Miss Peregrine.
CHARACTERS: I really hope to see more of Olive in the next books. I like her ability and her personality. I'm also intrigued by Millard and Enoch, and all of the children really.
COVER: The cover is very creepy and fits right in with the rest of the book.
Tuesday, May 19, 2015
Unicorn On A Roll Review
TITLE: Unicorn on a Roll (Heavenly Nostrils #2)AUTHOR: Dana Simpson
PUBLISHER: Andrews McMeel Publishing
PUBLICATION DATE: 5/26/2015
FORMAT: eARC
PAGES: 224
SOURCE: Netgalley
MY RATING:
SUMMARY (FROM GOODREADS): The magical friendship of Phoebe and her best friend, unicorn Marigold Heavenly Nostrils, is back in this second adventure of a girl and her mythical creature!
One year has passed since Phoebe skipped a rock across a pond, accidentally hit a unicorn in the face, and was granted a single wish--which she used to make the unicorn, Marigold Heavenly Nostrils, her obligational best friend. In some ways, not much has changed. At school Phoebe still clashes with her rival--and sometimes "frenemy"--the ever-taunting and imperious Dakota. Outside of school, she still fills her free time with extra-credit homework assignments, dramatic monologues about the injustices associated with school cliques, and imaginative conspiracy theories regarding global forces like the "powerful construction paper lobby." But unlike before, Phoebe now has a best friend to share it with--someone to make her laugh and to listen to all her extravagant ideas.
In this second volume of Heavenly Nostrils, titled, Unicorn on a Roll, the reader is invited on a journey into the lives of Phoebe and Marigold as they navigate the difficulties of grade school, celebrate the winter holidays, and explore their super hero/super villain personas together. Join in the fun, as Phoebe competes against Dakota for the leading role of "Lisa Ladybug" in their fourth-grade-play--or as she struggles to "manage" the PR debacle related to her nose-picking-scandal. ("I will neither confirm nor deny the events surrounding Boogergate.") Witness a band of unicorns staging an "intervention" and learn all the details of Marigold's secret crush on a mysterious creature she has never seen. Perhaps most important, watch as this surprising friendship between a charming, nine-year-old dreamer and a vain, mythical beast forever changes both of them for the better.
OVERALL IMPRESSION: I really enjoyed this book. I haven't read the first in the series because I didn't realize it was a series, but I don't think that took away too much from the second story. There were some parts of the story where I felt like it was randomly jumping around and I didn't quite know what was going on, but overall the story was really fun. It was very cute and quirky and I actually found myself chuckling out loud at quite a few points throughout the book.
CHARACTERS: I love Marigold Heavenly Nostrils (the unicorn). She was so vain and full of herself that it was humorous. Phoebe (the main character) was also a great character. I can see lots of 5th grade age range girls loving her.
COVER: I like the cover. It's purple, which is my favorite, and has the two main characters from the book on it.
**I received an eARC of this graphic novel from Netgalley for my honest review.**
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