Would You Rather (Book Blog Edition)

Hey, y'all! So this book tag has been floating around Booktube for a few months, and I decided it would be fun to do this because some of these questions are very, very difficult. So let's jump right into it!

1. Read only trilogies or stand alones?

I really wish that one of these was swapped for series, because I love series more than either trilogies or stand-alones. And this is probably one of the harder questions. I have several stand-alones that are very close to my heart, and so many trilogies are really weak. However, I would get so tired of stand-alones, and having three books allows me to get more invested in the world and the characters.

I guess I'm going to have to go with TRILOGIES. Because I'll almost always choose the one that allows me to get more invested with characters and worlds.


2. Read only female or male authors?

This one seemed rather easy to me at first glance, but upon second glance, I realized that it might not be. Harry Potter, The Mortal Instruments, The Infernal Devices, and the Across The Universe trilogy are very near and dear to my heart, and they were all written by women, as are a large chunk of YA books. However, out of my top 15 stand-alones, a whopping TWELVE are by men, as is the Pendragon series, AKA one of my all-time favorite series ever.

In the end, though, I think I'm still going to have to give it to FEMALE AUTHORS. Because if I couldn't read JK Rowling and Cassandra Clare's books ever again, I would be very sad. Plus, it gives me more options when choosing new books to read. 


3. Shop at Barnes & Noble or Amazon?

This one is one of the least difficult for me. I absolutely love going to a bookstore and picking out books and physically taking them home with me. However, Barnes and Noble is usually a lot more expensive than Amazon. And even if the website says the book is in-store, with my luck, it probably isn't there. I have Amazon Prime, so I can buy books for less expensive and get them in two days. 

I have to go with AMAZON. Although my ideal shopping experience is used bookstores. And Amazon has some shady business practices. But it's inexpensive, which is helpful for me.

4. All books become movies or t.v. shows?

When I first read these questions, I made a hasty decision, but I've since changed my mind. I absolutely have to go with a TV SHOW. Or, depending on the book, a TV mini-series. So if it's a stand-alone, just a mini-series, and then be done with it. Or in the case of Harry Potter, a seven-season long show, with each season being the exact replica of each of the books. So seasons 1-3 would be fairly short, but seasons 4-7 would be massive and epic.

5. Read 5 pages per day or 5 books per week?

I would have to go with FIVE BOOKS PER WEEK. I could always read 4 smaller books if there was one large book I wanted to read, although reading a 1000 page book within one week terrifies me. But yeah, 5 books a week. Although I don't know where I would find the time for that.

6. Be a professional reviewer or author?

This was probably the easiest question on this list. AUTHOR. AUTHOR. AUTHOR. It's been my dream job since I was an infant. Unfortunately, I have to be realistic and work on my novels on the side while balancing school and work and blog, but it's still a dream of mine. And I honestly don't think I'm a great reviewer, which is why I call my reviews "discussions" because I don't feel like I'm objective enough to be a good reviewer. 

7. Only read your top 20 favorite books over and over or always read new ones that you haven't read before?

As a notorious re-reader, this is actually really tough for me. I've seen so many people say "oh, I don't like re-reading that much, so this is so easy!" but that's definitely not me. I love re-reading books. I've read some of my favorite books like... 20 times. When I really love characters and a world, I love re-experiencing things and noticing new things that I'd missed before. However, 20 books is not that many. That's like... Harry Potter, The Infernal Devices, The Mortal Instruments, and probably my 3 favorite stand-alones. Not only is that neglecting all of my other favorite books, but also any new books I could ever enjoy. So I have to choose to ALWAYS READ NEW BOOKS THAT I HAVEN'T READ BEFORE.

8. Be a librarian or book seller?

If you've been following my blog for very long, you might know that when I finish with my undergrad, I plan to continue to grad school and get a dual degree in library science and musicology because I want to be a music librarian. However, I think it would be really cool to be a book seller too. I would never want to work in Barnes and Noble or in a public library at the front desk. Not my thing. However, I think it would be really cool to own an independent bookstore. And obviously, I would love to work in an academic library as a music librarian. I would also enjoy working as a cataloging librarian as well. Even though the independent bookstore option sounds really great, I'd still have to choose LIBRARIAN. I mean, that's what I'm going to school for. DUH.

9. Only read your favorite genre, or every genre except your favorite?

Well... I have two favorite genres (Fantasy and Dystopian!) so I'm just going to work off the assumption that both count as my favorite genre. Honestly, even if I had to choose between the two, I think I would still choose to ONLY READ MY FAVORITE GENRE. Most people have been choosing to read every genre except their favorite because it's less limiting, but I have to choose the opposite. If I had to choose a single genre, I'd probably pick fantasy. There are like 20 billion fantasy novels. And often, fantasy is mixed with other genres, so that gives me even more options. Plus, if I couldn't read fantasy, I couldn't read any of my favorite series. That just wouldn't work. 
 
10. Only read physical books or eBooks?

eBooks are really convenient for travel, but I will always, always choose PHYSICAL BOOKS. I love going to used bookstores and dream of having a home with shelves and shelves full of books. I will never give up on physical books. They're great.

That's all for Would You Rather Book Blog Edition. These questions were really tricky, but this was lots of fun!

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!

July Book Haul [Book Haul #3]

Hey, y'all! I'm here with my July book haul! I bought 14 books this month, which was more than I wanted to buy, but I don't really feel bad about it because several are books I have already read, and several are ones that I plan on reading this month.

Anyway, enough rambling. On to THE BOOKS.

Amazon Purchases

I bought all of these books off of Amazon at different times throughout the month, some just from Amazon, and some from their third-party vendors.

Project Runway: The Show That Changed Fashion

I actually already owned this book. I bought it right when it came out two years ago. However, if you remember from my bookshelf tour (Click here for part 1), I had this sitting on my windowsill. Well... apparently, we had a leaky windowsill and my copy was ruined. So I found a new copy from a third-party vendor on Amazon for only like $5, so I went ahead and got it and tossed the ruined copy.

Literary Listography

This is the most recent in a series of Listography books. I actually pre-ordered it so that I could get it this month on the day it came out. Each page has a different list for you to fill out. Since this one is all about books, there are lists to fill out such as "Favorite books of all-time" and "Favorite fantasy books." I also have the Music Listography and the original Listography. So far, I'm really liking this one!

The Shadowhunter's Codex 

by Cassandra Clare and Joshua Lewis

I own and have read all of Cassandra Clare's books, so I really wanted to get this one. I found it for only $5 from a third-party vendor on Amazon, so I snagged it. I plan on reading it this month, so it's not really adding anything to my TBR.

172 Hours on the Moon by Johan Harstad

I've been eyeing this one for a while. A horror novel set on the moon sounds extremely intriguing, and when I saw it for only $7 on amazon, I went ahead and bought it. I'm hoping that I get to read this in October with my horror TBR!

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

This. Book. I've been wanting to read this for so incredibly long. This is actually the book I'm reading right now, but I'm not too far into it. Anyway, I picked it up right at the beginning of the month when I saw it for $7 on Amazon. It was also the best place to find it in paperback, and for once I significantly preferred the paperback cover, so I was glad to find it pretty inexpensively.

Unite Me by Tahereh Mafi

Yet another one I've been eyeing for quite a while, and it was $6 on Amazon. You know the drill by this point. I'm also not adding anything to my TBR, because I've already read it!

Four by Veronica Roth

I found this one one day at Target. I knew that she would be releasing a collection of novellas told from Four's POV, but I thought they were going to be separate and that they were going to be published as ebooks. So when I saw this sitting at Target, I just decided to pick it up.

Book Outlet

As usual, I made yet another Book Outlet purchase. Although this time I tried to keep it relatively small!

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

This was the book that prompted the Book Outlet purchase. I had seen this on Book Outlet off and on, but every time I found it, there weren't other books on there that I really wanted, and each time I went to go make a larger purchase, it was never there. And it would be pointless to buy it on Book Outlet without anything else, because then I would basically be paying full price. Either way, I plan on reading this within the next couple weeks!

Anna Dressed In Blood by Kendare Blake

I saw that it was only about 3 dollars, and had been wanting to read it, so I went ahead and grabbed it. This may be included in my October horror TBR, but at the same time, I'd probably want to read the sequel immediately after and I have a very long list of books I want to read in that month already... so maybe not. Either way, this sounds like a really interesting take on a ghost story, and the text is a very subtle shade of red, which is super cool. 

The Travelers Books 1 & 3

These two books are the first and last books in a trilogy based off of the Pendragon series by DJ MacHale. Each book has 3 stories, each one about one of the 9 travelers (except Bobby Pendragon) prior to the Pendragon series. I just recently found out that these are not actually written by DJ MacHale, which bums me out just a little, but it will still be nice to read stories about my favorite travelers. And since my two favorites are the ones featured in the middle of these two covers, I'm hoping their stories are longer and more intense than the others. 

HARRY POTTER!

This month, I was finally able to find the last two books I needed to complete my hardcover Harry Potter collection!

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

This may be my least favorite book in the Harry Potter series (check out this series post and this video to learn more about my Harry Potter rankings) but I still wanted a pristine copy of it, and for an inexpensive price. And I finally found one! 

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Even after re-reading the Harry Potter series in June, my rankings of the books didn't really change. Apparently, I've got a pretty good grasp on which are my favorites and which aren't. What did change, however, is the gaps between each ranking. Previously, I'd had Order of the Phoenix (5th fave) and Goblet of Fire (4th fave) mostly tied, with Goblet of Fire getting a slight edge. After this read, however, Goblet of Fire is almost tied with Prisoner of Azkaban, which is my 3rd favorite. Either way, it went from getting 4 stars on GoodReads to 5, which is an extremely rare occurrence for me. 

The Tales of Beedle the Bard

Finally, I also found The Tales of Beedle the Bard, which I still hadn't purchased for some reason. I borrowed my friend's copy years ago, but hadn't ever bought it myself. Thankfully, my favorite used bookstore had it for $4, so I got it along with the other Harry Potter books I found that day!

So there we go, those are the 14 books I bought this month! Like I said, I didn't plan on buying very many this month, but since I've already read several and plan to read several this month, I don't feel bad about it. I do still plan on trying to buy very few books, so I'll probably only be allowing myself to purchase books that I have on my TBR for the rest of the year. 

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!