Book Discussions #2

Hey, y'all! Back in June, I did a post where I did short discussions about some stand-alone books that I'd read recently and said that I might make it a series... and that's what I've decided to do! In these posts, I'm going to be doing discussions for every single book I read. This was going to be just for stand-alones, but I realized that (even though I wish I could) I can't marathon every series that I read. So single books within series will be included within these as well. If I read 2+ books of a series back-to-back, they'll get their own posts. I plan on including 6-7 books per post, so new discussion posts will be up after every 6-7 books I read, give or take a few.  These discussions will be entirely spoiler-free and fairly short.

Also, all but one of these were written within a day of finishing the book. so even though it's been a few months since I've read many of these, the discussions were completed when the book was still fresh in my mind. I was waiting for one more book before posting this, but I decided I'd rather get it up before the end of the year instead of waiting for one more book. So here we go!

Looking For Alaska 
by John Green

So, I actually read this all the way back at the beginning of March and forgot to add it in my first Stand-Alone Discussion's post. Oops! But I had a lot of opinions about this book, so I just had to talk about it. I'm probably going to get a lot of hate for this, but... I wasn't impressed. I didn't like it. First off, I didn't like the characters. I couldn't empathize with them because I didn't care about them. Maybe it's because I'm a boring adult, but I found their constant drinking/smoking/rule-breaking to just be stupid, immature high school students trying to be cool and just wasn't impressed. I kinda-ish ended up liking The Colonel, but don't even get me started on Pudge. If you want to know why, ask and I'll explain why I don't like Pudge, but it's a long explanation so I won't discuss it right now. I also felt like John Green wanted to make Alaska this very deep-thinking philosophical character, but she came off as someone trying too hard to pose as a philosophical person. Like she was trying to be the stereotype. Another problem that I had was that nothing about this book kept me guessing or surprised me. I saw the twists coming. All of them. To me, that's a sign of a plot that is way too predictable. Overall, I just didn't like it. Sorry, not sorry.

I gave it 2/5 stars on GoodReads, so I'll give it 4 stars out of 10. Please don't hurt me.

And Then There Were None 
by Agatha Christie

This was not a first-time read for me. If I'm being realistic, it's closer to the 10th-15th read. If you saw my Top 15 Stand-Alones post (Check it out here) then you'll know that this is my all-time favorite stand-alone novel. After all of those challenges and after that huge reading marathon, I just wanted to curl up with my favorite book. So that's exactly what I did. It was a great choice. I read it in just a few hours and really enjoyed reading it again. It was very comfortable and familiar. And great. Philip Lombard will forever be one of my favorite literary characters. It's just a very well concocted mystery and I just love it.

It's my favorite book! How could I give it anything but 10 stars out of 10?!

Ready Player One 
by Ernest Cline

I knew going into this that I was going to enjoy it. Although I didn't grow up in the 80s and I'm not an expert on the decade, I do have a pretty high interest in the decade. Most of my favorite movies are from that decade, and I really enjoy a lot of the rock music from the 80s. Even more importantly, I love dystopians, and I love video games. If you've read anything where I've talked about dystopian novels, you know that when I read a dystopian, I want world building out the wazoo. This book has all the world building I could ever hope for. It made my little curious heart sing. But it didn't suffer because of it. It was still extremely action-packed and really awesome. A lot of the video game references went over my head, since I'm not well-versed in older video games, but the book did a great job explaining things. Honestly, this book just had everything I could want from a book: action, adventure, magic, a fantastic world, a fantastic plot, mystery, etc. it was just all great. 

Overall, I had to give it 10 stars out of 10. 

Mr. Penumbra's 24 Hour Bookstore 
by Robin Sloan

I'm not quite sure what I expected going into this book, but it wasn't really... this. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the book! But it took a really weird turn that I totally wasn't expecting. I knew that there was something weird and mysterious going on with the bookstore based on the synopsis, but I was thinking that it would be something illegal or something like that. Either way, I didn't love this book, but I did like it. There were several things that I thought could have been explained better. There were a few parts where I found myself having to try a little too hard to understand what was going on, because something hadn't been explained enough. Aside from that though, this book was pretty enjoyable. Overall, it was likable but unimpressive.

I decided to give it 7 stars out of 10. 

Fangirl 
by Rainbow Rowell

I went into this book not knowing a ton about the plot or characters... except the main character. When I heard that the main character was an introverted girl who wrote fanfiction and was going to college for the first time, I knew I had to read it because that was me 2 years ago. I feel like a large percentage of young adult readers will be able to relate to Cath. I know I definitely did. This book was completely adorable. I laughed out loud and said "Aww" more times than I could count. It was so cute. It was realistic and believable, and even had some deep moments. But overall, this is light contemporary at its finest, and I loved it.

I think I'm going to go with 9.75 stars out of 10. Almost perfect.

The Bone Season

by Samantha Shannon

Y'all. Y'ALL. So, I had high expectations for this book. It's the first in a new series, it's a fantasy and dystopian mix, it's got a main character who's close to my age, it's set in England... the list goes on and on. The point is, this book had absolutely everything I love in books... and it did not disappoint. The main gist is that our main character, Paige, is clairvoyant. In this dystopian future, being clairvoyant is a crime and clairvoyants are hunted down and killed. There are many many many different types of clairvoyants, and Paige is one of the rarest. She works for a voyant (slang for clairvoyant) gang in London. A lot of people weren't huge fans of this book because they didn't like the info-dumps and they found it hard to keep up with the different types of voyants. But I loved all of that. When I'm introduced to a new form of 'magic' or a new world or a dystopian version of my own world, I want to learn all of the information. And I definitely got that. And loved every second. 

Since it is the first book of a series, there is a lot of world-building and character development, and I really enjoyed it. Another of the key characters, Warden, is especially interesting. I won't go into detail to avoid spoilers, but if you've read the book, you know what I mean. I did find it a bit difficult to keep up with the characters, because nearly all of them have 2 names, and they're used interchangeably, and sometimes it's hard to keep up with which 2 names refer to the same person. But honestly, that's the only criticism that I have about the book. I loved all of it. It was incredible. The Mime Order comes out in late January and I really just don't want to wait two whole months for that book. NOW. NOW. Please, NOW. 

This is an easy 10 stars out of 10. This was amazing.


So that's it for the last Book Discussions post of the year! I hope you enjoyed this! Have you read any of these books? What did you think of them? Let me know in the comments!

I've started doing Booktube a little as well, so if you want to check that out, you can click HERE. I plan to post most of my videos to my blog, but just in case I miss one or decide not to post it on here, that will keep you up-to date. 

I've also created a Facebook page for my blog, so if you want to check that out and like it, you can click HERE. I'll try to keep that pretty up-to-date with new posts and such.

Thanks for reading! If you like my posts, I'd really appreciate if you'd subscribe/follow so that I know you're enjoying what I'm posting! See y'all soon!

Summer 2014 Bookshelf Tour Part 2: A Closer Look

Hey, y'all! So, I've seen lots of booktubers do bookshelf tours, but I hadn't thought to do one until just recently. However, you're actually going to be seeing two bookshelf tours in close proximity to each other! I'm currently living in a dorm room on my school's campus, and the only shelving unit I have are two shelves on top of my desk. However, at the beginning of August, I'll be moving into the apartment I'll be living in throughout my junior year of college, and I'll be getting a full, 5 shelf bookshelf. I probably won't do that bookshelf tour until late August, because I'll be traveling for some of August, as well as preparing for the upcoming semester.

The third bookshelf tour will actually be of my bookshelf at home. I'll be going home for a week next month, and since I have several books there, I thought it would be a good idea to do a bookshelf tour for that shelf. I might hold off on that post until September just because you'll be getting this one in two parts now, as well as the updated apartment one next month. Or I might hold off on the apartment one until September. We'll see.

There are 2 parts to my bookshelf tour. In part 1, I did a general overview of my shelves and how they're organized. In part 2, I'll be listing the books I own and whether they're read or unread.

Link to part 1: Summer Bookshelf Tour Part 1

Books that are bolded are books I've read. Books that are unbolded are unread. Books labeled as read in red are books with one or more re-reads.

So, this bookshelf tour will only be up-to-date for less than a month, but I wanted to go ahead and do it so that I have it documented. It's partially for my own benefit as well, to remember how I had everything shelved. So, let's jump in, shall we?

So, just like with the part 1, I'm going to show you each shelf, and then zoom in on specific sections and go into detail about the books. So let's start out with my Favorites shelf!

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone- Read (5ish times)

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban- Read (5-7 times)

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix- Read (3-5 times)

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince- Read (10-12 times)

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows- Read (5-7 times)

I do own copies of books 2 & 4, but they're in paperback and both at home because I plan on purchasing them in hardcover sometime soon. 

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie- Read (10+ times)

Divergent by Veronica Roth- Read

Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher- Read (5-7 times)

Unsaid Things... Our Story by McFly- Read

A Million Suns by Beth Revis- Read

Across The Universe by Beth Revis- Read

Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare- Read

City of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare- Read

OK, now on to the second shelf, starting with the far left stack at the bottom...

Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs- Read

Hollow City by Ransom Riggs- Read

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins- unread

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins- unread

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins- unread

Yes, I know, shock and awe and outrage at the fact that I haven't read the Hunger Games trilogy. I actually didn't even buy them until last month. 

And now, we move up to the books directly above those...

Specials by Scott Westerfeld- unread

Pretties by Scott Westerfeld- Read

Infinity by Sherrilyn Kenyon (book 1 in the Chronicles of Nick)- unread

Shades of Earth by Beth Revis- Read

Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare- Read

City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare- Read (twice)

And now on to the bottom of the next stack...

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline- unread (but I plan to change that soon!)

The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak- unread

One Day by David Nicholls- unread

Dear Killer by Katherine Ewell- unread

Cinder by Marissa Meyer- unread

Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac by Gabrielle Zevin- unread

You Have Seven Messages by Stewart Lewis- unread

And the books right above those...

All-American Girl by Meg Cabot- Read (10-12 times)

The Perks of Being A Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky- Read

Holes by Louis Sachar- Read

Ghost Town at Sundown by Mary Pope Osbourne- Read (5ish times... a long time ago)

Sweeney Todd- unread

Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi- Read

Unite Me by Tahereh Mafi- Read

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi- Read

Onto the bottom of the next stack...

Asylum by Madeleine Roux- unread

Vicious by V.E. Schwab- unread

The Fault In Our Stars by John Green- Read

Mr. Penumbra's 24 Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan

Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl- unread

Moving up the stack...

Ignite Me by Tahereh Mafi- Read

Invincible by Sherrilyn Kenyon (book 2 in the Chronicles of Nick)- unread

Allegiant by Veronica Roth- Read

Insurgent by Veronica Roth- Read

Down to the bottom of the next stack...

The Shadowhunter's Codex by Cassandra Clare- unread

Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare- Read

Days of Blood and Starlight by Laini Taylor- unread

Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor- unread

And right above those...

The Drawing of the Three by Stephen King- unread

The Gunslinger by Stephen King- unread

Nothing Feels Good by Andy Greenwald- unread

A Storm of Swords by George RR Martin- unread

Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace- unread

On to the bottom shelf!

Far left, on the bottom...

The Pendragon Adventure Book 5: Black Water- Read

The Pendragon Adventure Book 4: The Reality Bug- Read (twice)

The Pendragon Adventure Book 3: The Never War- Read (twice)

The Pendragon Adventure Book 2: The Lost City of Faar- Read (twice)

The Pendragon Adventure Book 1: The Merchant of Death- Read (3/4 times)

Right above that...

The Pendragon Adventure Book 9: Raven Rise- Read

The Pendragon Adventure Book 8: The Pilgrims of Rayne- Read

The Pendragon Adventure Book 7: The Quillan Games- Read

The Pendragon Adventure Book 6: The Rivers of Zadaa

Right beside that stack...

The Pendragon Adventure Book 10: The Soldiers of Halla- Read

Next stack over, bottom...

The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan- unread

The Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan- unread

The Titan's Curse by Rick Riordan- Read

The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan- Read

The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan- Read (twice)

The Two Towers by JRR Tolkien- unread

The Fellowship of the Ring by JRR Tolkien- unread

Just above those...

A Game of Thrones by George RR Martin- unread

The Return of the King by George RR Martin- unread

The High King by Lloyd Alexander- unread

Taran Wanderer by Lloyd Alexander- unread

The Castle of Llyr by Lloyd Alexander- unread

The Black Cauldron by Lloyd Alexander- unread

The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander- unread

Bottom of the next stack...

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley- Read
Anthem by Ayn Rand- Read
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley- unread
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess- unread
Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson- unread

Just above those...

You Are Not So Smart by David McRaney- Read
Nobrow by John Seabrook- unread
Choice Theory by William Glasser- unread
Musicophilia by Oliver Sacks- unread (technically, 1/4 read)
This Is Your Brain On Music by Daniel Levitin- Read
The World in Six Songs by Daniel Levitin- unread

And above those...

Carrie by Stephen King- Read
To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee- Read
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury- Read
The Giver by Lois Lowry- Read
Animal Farm by George Orwell- unread
Lord of the Flies by William Golding- Read
1984 by George Orwell- Read

And the last stack on this shelf...

Music by Nicholas Cook- unread
The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket- Read
The Reptile Room by Lemony Snicket- Read
The Wide Window by Lemony Snicket- Read
The Miserable Mill by Lemony Snicket- Read
The Austere Academy by Lemony Snicket- Read
The Ersatz Elevator by Lemony Snicket- Read
The Vile Village by Lemony Snicket- Read
The Hostile Hospital by Lemony Snicket- Read
The Carnivorous Carnival by Lemony Snicket- Read
The Slippery Slope by Lemony Snicket- Read
The Grim Grotto by Lemony Snicket- Read
The Penultimate Peril by Lemony Snicket- Read


OK, so that's all for my main bookshelf. Now we'll move over to my overflow shelving... For this last section, I'm going to discuss the books rather than say read/unread.

The two bottom, spiral-bound books are music anthologies that I used in the two music history classes I took this past year of college. The yellow one covers the classical and romantic periods, and the green one is 20th century music. Right above that are two textbooks from my Creativity and Intelligence class in spring semester. Above that is Shakespeare's Othello. Then, two more books for the Creativity and Intelligence class. Above that is a book called "Selections from the Canzoniere and Other Works"... and I have no clue what that is. It was for a required class that I didn't really pay much attention to and have since forgotten everything about... but I got an A in the class, so I don't feel bad at all. Above that are a journal about hating everything and The Lexicon of Stupidity, both Christmas presents from my roommate, who understands me so well. And lastly, I have the Q&A A Day journal, which is a 5 year journal where you answer a question every day.

And now, we come to the last section of my bookshelf!

Far left, I have an extra copy of Pendragon Book 2. I ordered it very inexpensively as a used copy, and it didn't match my set. So it went into the overflow. Then, I have two books I got for free at a used bookstore. Beside that are two quiz books... I'm obsessed with quiz books. Then, my Wreck This Journal!

Far left is a bind-up of two Agatha Christie novels. Beside that is Under The Dome by Stephen King, which was too tall to fit in any of my stacks. Next, List Your Self and 642 Things To Write About- two fun "non-book" books. Then, Ultimate Unofficial Guide to the Mysteries of Harry Potter (Book 5) and Project Runway: The Show That Changed Fashion, which were both just too tall to fit on my shelves.

Finally, I just have my magazines and some notebooks. The majority of the magazines are Alternative Press... these are the tall ones on the left and the shorter ones in the middle (they had a format change last year). The tall ones on the right are RockSound, and then I have another notebook with some music stuff in it. 

So, there you go, that's the closer look at my bookshelves. I hope you enjoyed this and are excited about the upcoming ones. I apologize for how book-heavy my posts have been, but I promise that at the end of this reading challenge, the posts will even out! In the meantime, my discussion for Pendragon Book 4 will be out tomorrow! I also plan on getting a Tumblr Challenge post and CDs On My Shelf post out within the week. And I know that I've been talking about getting a Secret Lightning Scar chapter out and haven't delivered, but this time it's for real. I've been trying to work out this chapter for the last couple days (it's a difficult one) but once I get past this one, I know roughly how the next few will go, so I can start getting those out every couple weeks again. So you can expect the next chapter of Secret Lightning Scar by the weekend. That's a promise.

I've also created a Facebook page for my blog, so if you want to check that out and like it, you can click HERE. I'll try to keep that pretty up-to-date with new posts and such.

Thanks for reading this! If you like my posts, don't forget to subscribe/follow, since it lets me know that you're enjoying what I'm doing. See y'all soon!

Embarrassingly Large May/June Book Haul! [Book Haul #2]

Hey, y'all! So remember back in April when I did my book haul and talked about how embarrassingly large that book haul was? Clearly, I didn't understand the definition of "embarrassingly large." The real definition is THIS:

In case you were wondering, that's approximately 50 books. Granted, this haul is over the course of 2 months rather than just one, and June's my birthday month so I got birthday money, but that's still an incredibly large number of books. I'm actually so ashamed of myself that I'm putting myself on a book buying ban. I've made a list of books I'm allowed to buy if I find them for a good price, and I'm allowed to buy books from used bookstores. This eliminates the real problem which is my compulsive online buying. Often, if I see a book online for fairly inexpensive, and I've heard good things about it, I buy it. Also, I'm completely out of room on my shelves, and I can't put up my full 5 shelf bookcase until I move into my new apartment at the beginning of August. So the ban will probably span all of July, and then I'll probably change the stipulations some. Because if I don't give myself limits, I'll buy all the things.

Anyway, enough rambling. On to THE BOOKS.

A Series of Unfortunate Events

So I decided to start with the section that I feel the least shame about, because I actually bought less than half of these books. As I've previously mentioned, I work at a library. One great thing about working in cataloging is that if the library gets books as a gift, and it's determined that we don't need the books, I can have them if I want them. It's not like I'm allowed to take every single discarded book, but if I see some that catch my eye, I can have them. The library got gifted the first 11 books of A Series of Unfortunate Events. We already had books 1-9 and 11, so we didn't need extra copies. I'd already bought the 1st and 6th book a few weeks before, so I got to keep 2-5, 7-9, and 11. I then found books 10 and 12 at a used bookstore. I have yet to find book 13 anywhere, but I'm not in a huge hurry. I do want to re-read these eventually, because they were a pretty significant part of my childhood. And these books are just gorgeous, so I'm really glad that I have almost all of them now!

Book Outlet

I had a Book Outlet coupon and stumbled across a lot of books that I'd been eyeing for quite a while, so I made a pretty sizable purchase.

Music by Nicholas Cook

This was one of the more impulse buys of the order. I'm a music/psychology major, and I'm really interested in books examining how we think about music, and that seems like what this is about. I also liked the minimalist cover.

Nothing Feels Good... by Andy Greenwald

When I saw this book, I HAD to have it. It sounded like it was practically written just for me. I love punk rock and emo music, and I started listening to it when I was a young teenager (and it feels really odd to say that I'm not a teenager anymore). I'm excited to get into this, though I noticed recently that it doesn't have such great ratings on GoodReads. 

Infinity by Sherrilyn Kenyon

This is the first book in the Chronicles of Nick series. I've been eyeing these books for quite a while, and when I found this for only a few dollars, I decided to get it. It sounds like a really exciting and action-packed fantasy series with a similar premise to Cassandra Clare's books, and I see Sherrilyn Kenyon books everywhere, so she seems to be a pretty popular author. I'm excited to get into this series eventually. Because everything's eventual.

Invincible by Sherrilyn Kenyon

I also picked up the second book in the Chronicles of Nick series. It was a cheap hardback, and I really enjoyed the cover. I almost bought the 3rd, 4th, and 5th books, which were all also on Book Outlet, but I decided to wait just a little bit in case I didn't like the series for some reason.

The Black Cauldron by Lloyd Alexander

In my last book haul, I showed the other four books in this series, which I also purchased off of Book Outlet. This time, the second book was actually on there (ONE lone copy- $2.99), so I snatched it up and plan to marathon the series sometime this year, complete with a viewing of the 1985 Disney movie, which is one of my top 5 Disney movies of all time. I'm just a little excited. 

Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac by Gabrielle Zevin

This is actually the book that got me onto Book Outlet. I watched one of Ariel Bissett's videos where she raved about how much she loved this book. It sounded just so interesting, so I checked Book Outlet, and they had it for $1.49. So I grabbed my coupon and browsed around to see what else I could find. The concept behind this book is absolutely intriguing. I'm not sure when I'll get to it, but it was totally worth it.

You Have Seven Messages by Stewart Lewis

I saw this one in Barnes and Noble one time and the concept was interesting, so I took a picture of it to remember it. And then I saw it on Book Outlet for less than $3 so I just added it on. This one also doesn't have the highest GoodReads ratings, but the concept has me intrigued. It reminded me just a little of Thirteen Reasons Why, which is one of my favorite books.

Asylum by Madeleine Roux

I've been pining for this one for quite a while. I've seen it in a handful of book hauls and have wanted it since I first saw it. It looks so creepy, which is one of my favorite types of books/ movies. I think I'm going to have a horror TBR for October, so I think I'm going to be saving this one for that, along with a few more books I really want to read. 

Vicious by V.E. Schwab

This is yet another booktube find. A lot of people I watch have absolutely loved this book, and I thought that it sounded like a really interesting concept. This is also another one I've had my eye on for quite a while. I had really wanted the paperback cover of this, but this hardcover was inexpensive enough that I decided to go for it. If I fall in love with it, maybe I'll splurge on a paperback copy. 

The Pendragon series by DJ MacHale

I already had books 7-10 in hardcover, but I wanted the entire series in hardcover since it's one of my favorite series. So, I got the first six used from various sites, to varying degrees of success. At least they all will display well on the shelves, regardless of some of the semi-damaged books. I also think that some used bookstores need to re-consider what they consider to be "very good condition." I had to bring several of these to work to clean them up and remove stickers and other junk from the books. And those were the fixable problems.

Online Purchases

This section is just a random assortment of books that I got from several different orders at several different times.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

I already had this on my kindle, and I'm not sure why I didn't just buy the hard copy the first time around, but now I have it in hard copy! My one annoyance is that I ordered a used copy in the original cover... and this brand new movie-tie in was what I got. In general, I'm not a fan of movie tie-in covers. I don't dislike this cover, I just wanted the original cover. I almost returned it, but it's the same book, in perfect condition, with Logan Lerman on the cover. I can cope.

Ultimate Unofficial Guide to the Mysteries of Harry Potter

(Analysis of Book 5)

I have the first Unofficial Guide (which covers books 1-4) and found it really interesting. I happened to discover that they'd made one for the 5th book, which I was conveniently not far from starting, so I decided to pick it up and read them together. 

Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace

There's one booktuber who raves and raves about this book and how amazing it is. It's over 1000 pages long and sounds like a really interesting challenge. I had my eye on it for a while, and came across it one day on the Book Outlet, so I picked it up.

Daughter of Smoke & Bone and Days of Blood & Starlight 

by Laini Taylor

Katytastic on Youtube raves and raves and RAVES about this trilogy, and has touted it as her favorite trilogy ever. I tend to have a fairly similar taste in books, so I generally trust her quite a bit when it comes to recommendations. These were $6 apiece on Books A Million's website, so I jumped on the opportunity to get them.

City of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare

This book... so beautiful. I pre-ordered it back in February and finished reading it less than a week after it came out. I did a full discussion on it, which you can check out by clicking HERE. It was an amazing conclusion to one of my all-time favorite series. LOVE.

Used Bookstores

These were all purchased during multiple trips to used bookstores throughout May and June. Yay for bargain books!

Pretties and Specials by Scott Westerfeld

These are the 2nd and 3rd books in the Uglies trilogy. I read the first two books of this trilogy back in junior high and really enjoyed it, so I wanted to pick it up and read the entire thing. I have yet to find Uglies, but I'm not in a rush. I want to pick up some more of his books, because I also enjoyed his Midnighters trilogy in junior high as well. 

Holes by Louis Sachar

I've been purchasing some of my favorite childhood books so that I can have a little collection on my shelves, and this was one of the ones that I had to have. It was always one of my favorites and I absolutely cannot believe that I sold this book a few years back.

Ghost Town at Sundown by Mary Pope Osborne

This is another book I wanted from my childhood. I read this series almost religiously, and this was my favorite of the books. When I found it, I jumped at the chance to get it.

Sweeney Todd

I stumbled across this and I'm still kinda confused about it. Sweeney Todd is one of my favorite movies, but as far as I know, it wasn't originally a book. I know it was a play and a musical before the Johnny Depp movie, but I don't think it was ever a book. I'm assuming that this might be one of those random movie to book adaptations, since it does have the movie cover on it. Either way, it seems really intriguing and I'm curious to see how it translates to a book.

The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins

To be very honest, I almost didn't buy these. I've never read the series (yes, I know, shock, gasp, horror, etc.). Honestly, the hype surrounding it is what has kept me from reading it for this long. I've had the first book on my kindle for more than 2 years. I do think I'd like it, since dystopians are my thing, but I just haven't picked it up. These were all together in perfect condition for only $7 apiece, so I decided to get them, because I'll read them at some point. So they'll sit for a while, but I'll get to them eventually. I promise.

The Dark Tower Books 1 & 2- Stephen King

Like I said in my stand-alone book discussions, I've been wanting to read more Stephen King and this series was recommended to me by a few people I know. It sounds really interesting and I found the first two books in the same edition at a used bookstore, so I picked them up.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling

Before anyone freaks out, this is not my first copy of the book! When I originally bought the series, the first 5 were out in paperback, so I got them in paperback. I have the last 2 in hardcover because I bought each of them the day they came out, and so I've been trying to find the first five books in hardcover, first American edition. That's why I was SHOCKED to see this first American edition sitting in a used book store, in near perfect condition. I had to grab it.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling

My favorite used bookstore seems to get a constant flow of Harry Potter books, and many of them are in really great condition, including this one! They also had books 6 & 7 in PERFECT condition and I was extremely tempted to buy them because the dust jackets on mine are very well used. But I refrained, because my original copies have sentimental value. The store also had Chamber of Secrets and Goblet of Fire, but the quality wasn't as good as I wanted, so I haven't gotten those even though they're the last two I need in hardcover. I'll be patient though, because it's my favorite series, and I want them to be perfect.

Under the Dome by Stephen King

This has been on my to-buy list for quite a while. I'd been planning on buying the huge floppy paperback because I really like huge floppy paperbacks for some reason (like Infinite Jest! That's a huge, awesome paperback). I found the paperback and it was in good condition except that the spine was cracked in several places and I'm not a spine crack fan. I was going to get it, but stumbled across the hardcover on display just a few feet away for only $1 more, so I went for it because it was in near-perfect condition. I really can't wait to read this one because I keep seeing commercials for season 2 of the show based on this book and it seems really interesting.

Random/Misc. Books

This last section isn't super exciting, it's just a few books I got from assorted places.

Nobrow by John Seabrook

This is another book I got from the discarded books at work. Originally, I thought that it was a non-fiction psychology book analyzing our culture. And by looking at the cover, it would certainly seem like that. However, it's actually a fictional dystopian set in a world where the culture has deteriorated to the point where fast food restaurants are the fancy places. I don't know a ton about it, but what I saw sounded intriguing, so I took it home.

Sleeping Murder and Murder at the Vicarage 

by Agatha Christie

Once again, this is a book that I got from work. Agatha Christie is one of my favorite authors, so I was really excited to come across this. These are both from her Miss Marple series. I have read several Poirot novels, but I have yet to get into Miss Marple, so I think that these may be the ones that get me into it!

Wreck This Journal

This one was a birthday present from my roommate (well, we don't live together right now, but we lived together last school year and will be sharing a room starting in August, but whatever). I've actually been eyeing it for a while, but hadn't bought it yet. I've already done a few of the things in it, but I don't want to rush anything since the point is to get creative with it. This should get exciting!

So there we go, those were the nearly 50 books that I got over the last two months. Hopefully my next haul will be significantly smaller because of the semi-ban I've put myself on, but I've already ordered 3 books (all from the list of books I'm allowed to buy, and for a good price! Promise!) so it may be a bit bigger than I really want it to be. Also, new post tomorrow- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix discussion. Fanfiction chapter will be out... soon. Probably once I'm not reading constantly to finish my challenge. But it's my first priority after the Reading Challenge posts. 

Thanks for reading! If you like my posts, I'd really appreciate if you'd subscribe/follow so that I know you're enjoying what I'm posting! See y'all soon!