Top Ten Tuesday: Books To Read In A Day

April 3, 2012 by 11 Comments

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish and features a new top ten list each week.

Books To Read In A Day

Here are books that I read in one sitting (or day) and that I could not step away from aka some of the best ones.

01. Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins – I don’t read a lot of YA contemporary so I was pretty sure this wouldn’t be my thing. I started it before bed thinking, “I’ll read a few pages.” Cut to 3AM or so and I had just finished and had the silliest grin on my face.

02. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins – Is anyone able to put this down?! This was such an intense reading experience for me. As was Catching Fire immediately following. And Mockingjay when that was released.

03. Ashes by Ilsa J. Bick – SPEAKING OF INTENSE. This book kept me up until I finished it and I was freaking out over it along the way on goodreads and twitter.

04. Angelfall by Susan Ee – Susan Ee really knows how to keep the pace going and going in her writing. So addicting!

05. Twilight by Stephenie Meyer – Yup, yup, this list would not be complete without this book. I have such vivid memories of my experience reading it: freshman year of college in my dorm, class early the next morning, running to my laptop around 4AM to order New Moon, missing class the next day…YEAH.

06. Harry Potter by JK Rowling – I read through the first four books when I was in the sixth grade and experienced the midnight releases from Order of the Phoenix onwards. Guess who stayed up all night reading them? That would be me! My all nighters started early…

07. Insignia by SJ Kincaid – My review for this one should be up soon, but I had so much fun reading this book. It.is.awesome.

08. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green – I had only read one other John Green book and it hadn’t quite lived up to my expectations. I randomly picked up this one and fell in love. And sobbed. And was destroyed. But I loved every second of it!

09. Unearthly by Cynthia Hand – Unearthly remains one of the best surprises for me. Despite being 400+ pages, it was not enough!

10. So many other books that I could list here: Vampire Academy books, the Fever series, most of my favorite chick lit reads… I will reserve this spot for what’s to come!

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Top Ten Tuesday: Books That Broke My Heart A Little

February 14, 2012 by 14 Comments

Hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, here is my first time participating in Top Ten Tuesday.

Top 10 Books That Broke Your Heart A Little

I’m an emotional freak, I cry over just about everything, but here are the ten books that immediately came to mind (in no particular order):

01. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green - I just posted my review for this one recently, but I will repeat myself: I was sooo overwhelmed by the combination of feeling so much happiness and sadness at the same time. Beautiful, beautiful book.

02. The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness – If you’ve read this book then you probably know what scene left me feeling so drained. I actually had to step away from reading for a while because I was crying too much. If I even think about it, I feel teary, ahhhhhhhh.

03. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak – This book is pretty much the definition of heartbreak. Enough said.

04. Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver – Lauren Oliver is an author that always makes me cry and this is the first time she managed to get those tears flowing out of my eyes. It was an incredible journey with Sam and YEAH…tears.

05. The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater – Yes, this had some sad moments, but it mostly broke my heart because it was so perfect. Does that even make sense? Whatever, go with it. I was weeping when it was over.

06. A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness – I feel the same way about this book that I do The Book Thief: it is so brutal and brilliant and leaves me needing someone to hold me while I sob uncontrollably.

07. Where She Went by Gayle Forman – Tears were expected with If I Stay, but they were out of control with this one. Adam was a tornado of emotions and Gayle Forman did such an amazing job in having the reader experience them with him.

08. The Amber by Spyglass by Phillip Pullman – IF YOU DID NOT CRY OVER THAT ENDING, YOU ARE NOT HUMAN. No, but really, it is devastating.

09. The Help by Kathryn Stockett – If you’ve seen the movie then you have an idea of how touching the material is. And yet the book was 100x more affecting; I grew to love the characters so, so much.

10. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins – This book was hella depressing. It was bleak and my favorite died. Really, I felt so gutted reading this book.

Did any of my picks make your list? What books broke your heart?

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Book Review: The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

February 2, 2012 by 18 Comments

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
Release Date: January 10, 2012
Publisher: Dutton Juvenile
Pages: 318
Source: Purchased Copy
Rating: ★★★★★ 
Buy It: Amazon | Book Depository

Diagnosed with Stage IV thyroid cancer at 12, Hazel was prepared to die until, at 14, a medical miracle shrunk the tumours in her lungs… for now.

Two years post-miracle, sixteen-year-old Hazel is post-everything else, too; post-high school, post-friends and post-normalcy. And even though she could live for a long time (whatever that means), Hazel lives tethered to an oxygen tank, the tumours tenuously kept at bay with a constant chemical assault.

Enter Augustus Waters. A match made at cancer kid support group, Augustus is gorgeous, in remission, and shockingly to her, interested in Hazel. Being with Augustus is both an unexpected destination and a long-needed journey, pushing Hazel to re-examine how sickness and health, life and death, will define her and the legacy that everyone leaves behind. – Goodreads

Review:
I’m going to keep this one short because, well, I find it difficult to talk about about books that make me feel so much. The Fault in Our Stars is only the second ever John Green book that I’ve read, but this is the one that finally made me get IT: all the love and adoration that so many readers feel for his books. I read Looking for Alaska about two years ago and, while I liked it to an extent, I wasn’t absolutely in love with it. It’s not a book I can gush over, or that I recommend to friends, and I think I expected too much based on the glowing praise it received. It wasn’t the book for me, which is fine– books can’t be the same thing for everyone — but I would be lying if I said that I wasn’t a little let down. This book however…gah. It’s one that makes me feel a rollercoaster of emotions just by thinking about it.

This is a book involving cancer and, yes, there were some expected moments of sadness, grief, and heartbreak. But there was also elation. Acceptance. It was vibrant and full of personality. There were moments of hilarity that made me clutch my stomach from laughing so hard. It allowed me to fall in love right along with Hazel and Augustus and it was such a wonderful and magnificent feeling. I grew to care for them both, as well as their family and friends, so much that I hated having to say goodbye once I finished the book.

I’m not even exaggerating when I say that reading The Fault in Our Stars was a very overwhelming experience for me. My heart swelled, and my heart broke, but I mostly felt full from the amazing journey I got to go on with Augustus and Hazel. Thank you, John Green.


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