Bloggin 'Bout Books Blog

Hello Lovelies!! Today we're getting into the Halloween spirit (ah! punny!!) with this top ten Tuesday from the Broke and the Bookish.    Top Ten Books / Movies to Gear Up for Halloween! Every Halloween I watch a handful of movies: 1. Hocus Pocus : This one's obvious. I'm a product of the 90s, I just can't go a year without it. 2. Practical Magic: I'm OBSESSED with this movie. I definitely tried to cast a love spell when I saw it when I was like seven or eight, but I figured I didn't know the words to say with it. 3. The Nightmare Before Christmas : Perfect for Halloween AND Christmas!! 4. Paranorman: So underrated!! Check it out if you haven't yet! 5. The Haunting in Conneticut : Perfect for when you want to actually be scared by a movie. And a few books that I've read recently/think would be good to read around Halloween/or am planning to read ASAP: 6. Don't Look Back: Creepy mystery! 7. The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava...

Hello Lovelies! Lately I've been thinking about how inspiring young adult books are. They don't necessarily even try to be. Welcome to the Darkhouse  by Laurie Faria Stolarz (which I will review soon!) is what actually got me thinking about this. She wrote a horror novel for teens. I mean reading Welcome to the Darkhouse  is almost like sitting and watching Scream or Chucky or any of the hundreds of horror movies that come out each year, but the two quotes that I marked down from it had nothing to do with fear. They were about being yourself and being more than what you are. The whole book is about fear! But Stolarz still managed to make me think about how I choose to react to situations and how I will cut the real me out of things when I want people to approve. These are the two quotes: Give yourself permission. Live your own life, make your own choices. What can this moment teach me? Nothing at all to do with fear or serial killers or haunted amusement park...

Hello Lovelies!  Here's another Top Ten Tuesday coming at you thanks to the lovely people at The Broke and the Bookish .  This week it's Top Ten Series I'd Like to Start. And whooo boy I have a whole bunch of these. So I'm just going to pull the first ten I see off of my bookshelf. The False Prince by Jennifer Nielsen The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo Unwind by Neal Shusterman The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa The Diviners by Libba Bray Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor Asylum by Madeleine Roux The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken Tell me which series I need to get on to pronto! And let me know which series you're thinking of starting in the comments!

Hello Lovelies! Wow! It's been a long time since I've done just a general update-y post. As you might remember, I've been swamped with school things lately, but because of Columbus Day (blech what a terrible "holiday"), I don't have class on Monday, so I had a bit of extra time this week. Also my school hosted the Boston Globe Horn Book Awards on Friday night which I was lucky enough to be able to attend, and holy oh my goodness. First of all, the winners were very gracious people. They all got to give little speeches except for a few who were unable to attend, and it was so nice hearing them speak! I love listening to writers and illustrators talk about their creative process and how they get ideas and what they do with them. I think it interests me because I so desperately want to be a writer. While it was very interesting listening to all of them speak, and I was definitely in awe of all of them, I was most excited to see Gene Luen Yang. And I was n...

Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Jandy Nelson's I'll Give You the Sun  might be the best book I've read this year, and I've read some damn good books in the last ten months. Within the first ten pages, I knew I was going to love this book. Noah is an incredible character (as is Jude, but the first chapter is from Noah's POV). Alternating POVs can be tricky, but Nelson excels at distinguishing the two characters in this book. The story alternates between the views of twins Noah at age 13 (going on to 14) and Jude at 16. The twins used to be super close but during Noah's time they're beginning to fall apart. By Jude's time, they barely even talk to each other. I'll Give You the Sun  is about trust and love and betrayal and knowing exactly what you want to do with your life and not being able to do it. But ohmygosh is it about love. It's about love in every expression: sibling love and parental love and love when you don't want it ...