Tag: TheBookThief

Reading + Writing Update!

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This is my second time writing this because airport wifi is terrible and didn’t want to save anything I had written.

Anyways, I wanted to say sorry for falling off the face of the blogging world for the past week. I was on vacation and while I originally planned to upload during my time away (I even pre-wrote a few for the first few days I was on vacation in California), I ended up not writing anymore and not having any inspiration either for posts either. However, it was a nice creative break especially since April is going to be a month filled to the brim with writing and reading related things! So since I am on my way home and will be back tonight which is Saturday although when you see this it will be Sunday…anyways expect a normal upload schedule for next week!

I didn’t get as much reading done as I originally hoped, but I did manage to get some done while traveling. Going into this vacation, my original plans were to finish Labyrinth Lost by Zoraida Cordova and read about 100 pages of The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. I did not accomplish any of that. I did get to about 150-something in Labyrinth Lost which means I am halfway through the book and still got a good chunk to go. The book started off really strong and I was interested and excited, but towards the middle things became a little confusing for me and the pace kind of just lulled. I do plan on finishing it though and I am really hoping it will pull through for the last half! As for The Book Thief, I think I only read about 50 pages meaning I still have 150 pages left to go, and all of that has to be read by Wednesday! Anyways, I also started reading an unexpected book that I picked up because I happened to be in the right city when a certain author was having a book signing for her new book…and that book is I Have Lost My Way by Gayle Forman! I just happened to be in San Diego the right day, and I was so excited to see her in person and listen to her not only talk about her new book, but also the writing struggles she had gone through in her career. I have read a few of Gayle Forman’s other books, such as If I Stay, Where She Went, One Day, and One Year, so I was really happy to meet an author that I thought so highly of. It was a lot of fun and was actually my first book signing! I would definitely recommend keeping an eye open at your local bookstores for events like these because it was worth it.

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Wow, that was a long reading update so get ready for a probably lengthy writing update too! As this post is coming out, it is Sunday, April 1st, AKA Camp NaNoWriMo day 1! I have been viciously planning and researching and tying up all the loose ends of my outline this past week, and only just now am I (kind of) ready to write. I have left my outline loose on purpose because I have realized over the years I work better with less structure so I don’t lose inspiration and momentum throughout writing. If you too are just finishing your outline, or looking for some inspiration to give you that final push then check out my Camp NaNo prep posts which will be linked down below. Overall I was really proud with all the work I got done on my outline during my vacation, and it just proves to myself how passionate I really am about this project and now I just cannot wait to dive into this new world! Another writing project I want to start on is this really short story idea I have that was inspired by a literary magazine’s current submission prompt, so fingers crossed I can quickly pump out that story for April 6th which is the deadline! Hopefully I am not putting too much on my plate but I am sure I can get most of it done…right?

Anyways, that was my really long reading and writing update and I hope you enjoyed! Keep an eye out for my upcoming blog posts this Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday because I will be returning to my regular posting after my unexpected hiatus. Don’t forget to check out the blog posts linked below for some more writing and book related content!

Last Blog Post: April Anticipations

Camp NaNo Prep: Outlining Tips, Creating Characters, Research

Other Places You Can Find Me:

Twitter:@zoermathers

Pinterest: @zoermathers

 

2018 Biannual Biblothon TBR!

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Despite January being a busy school month, and the month I am jumping back into writing, I am determined to not pass up a perfectly good readathon, especially since I have an overall reading goal of 75 books this year…anyways, if you don’t know what the Biannual Bibliothon is, it is a week long readathon hosted by some amazing BookTubers, where readers from around the world participate in reading, video, blogging and social media challenges twice a year. The readathon will take place on Saturday, January 20th to Friday, January 26th and will be a lot of fun! There are seven reading challenges to choose books for, and here are all the books I plan on reading.

#1: Read the Group Book

The group book is a book that you can read if you want, and if you do you can participate in their live show held after the end of the readathon. I will not be reading the group book this year, but if you are interested they will be reading Otherworld by Jason Segel and Kirsten Miller. I have no idea what it is about but I am sure it will be good!

#2: Read a Sequel

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At first I was going to read Lord of Shadows by Cassandra Clare, but then I realized I was kidding myself thinking I could read this massive book (no matter how much I love it) during the few days of the readathon. Instead I decided to go with a shorter book that I haven’t read in a while, and that is The Elite by Kiera Cass. This is the second book The Selection series which is described as “The Bachelor meets The Hunger Games” which are two things I love so of course I am excited to re read the second book. 336 pages

#3: Read a Book You Never Heard of Before

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I have heard of this book before, but I don’t really have any idea of what it is about so I decided it fits the guidelines enough, and that book is All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. I have heard this book is amazing so hopefully I can zip through it and I will love it just as much as everyone else does. 531 pages

#4: Read a Book About Mental Illness

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My TBR was in desperate need of a contemporary to make this readathon a smoother process, and considering I read this book the first time in just a few hours, I think it is fitting to add to my TBR. Just Listen by Sarah Dessen is a fun and easy to read contemporary that does involve mental illness when the main character’s sister is diagnosed with an eating disorder. We watch at how this impacts the family and the main character, Annabelle, and how this affects her life. 371 pages

#5: Read a Book That Was Mentioned in Another Book/Movie/TV Show, etc

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The trick to a readathon is picking short and quick books and that however, is something I haven’t really been doing…so I thought it would be smart and good for myself to choose a really short book and that is Peter Pan by James M Barrie. I have not read many classics, and since this is a short one I am hoping I will be able to get through it easily and then get encouraged to read more and more. I am really excited to read this book and I should be able to get through it in an hour or so! 176 pages

#6: Read a Book Under 200 Pages

Doubling up on challenges is also a smart thing to do with readathons, so I will also be reading Peter Pan for this challenge. It is a total of 176 pages which is obviously under 200 and I cannot wait to dive right into it!

#7: Read a Backlist Title

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For this challenge, you are supposed to read a book that was published before 2017 and I am thankful for this challenge because it doesn’t allow me to pick up a new release when I have so many unread books that have been sitting on my shelf since the beginning of time. Anyways, for this challenge, I will be reading The Book Thief by Markus Zusak! I am really excited and fingers crossed I actually read it, because I know I will love it like everyone else does. 552 pages

So those are all the books I plan to read for the 2018 Biannual Bibliothon and if you are looking for anymore info on it click the words “2018 Biannual Bibliothon” because they are linked to their YouTube channel! Don’t forget to check out my last blog post “Readathon Recommedations” if you are in need of some smart and entertaining book recommendations 🙂

Other Places You Can Find Me:

Twitter: @zoermathers

Pinterest: @zoermathers

Popular Books I Haven’t Read…

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I do read a lot, but there are quite a few books that I still haven’t read yet that everybody else already has…for some I have valid reasons why I haven’t read them but for other’s I don’t. Anyways, here are the popular books that I haven’t yet read!

Twilight Series by Stephanie Meyers – Okay, I have read the first book, Twilight, but I would say that rather than reading it I skimmed it…I just wasn’t that into the story and found the writing really plain and boring! I do have the entire series so maybe some day I will give it another try, but at the moment, I don’t see myself continuing on with the series soon.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak – Everybody has read this book and has said it is so good but yet, I still haven’t read it! I did buy it this month though so I will eventually read it. The Book Thief seems like such a powerful and enriching book that I am really excited to read and I am almost positive I will love it just as much as everyone else seems to.

Passengers by Alexandra Bracken – Last year this book had a lot of hype around it, and it still does, which is why I think I didn’t enjoy the bits I read as much as I thought I would. I read about 100 pages of it but honestly, those 100 pages were extremely difficult for me to get through. I found the main character really boring and the entire book just didn’t grip me in the way I expected it too. I thought it was because time travel wasn’t my thing, but then I read Ruby Red by Kerstin Gier which is another time travel based book and I loved it! I will pick it up again in the future, but I don’t know if it will be this year.

Illuminae by Jay Kristoff and Aime Kaufman – This is a super popular sci-fi book that is told in a multimedia format which looks really, really cool. I do want to read this book and the only excuse I have for why I haven’t read it is simply because I just haven’t picked it up. Hopefully I will give it a read soon though!

Uglies Series by Scott Westerfield – Uglies is a dystopian set series which has a pretty interesting plotline that intrigues me. I picked the first book up earlier this month and do intend on reading it sometime this year! I have heard mixed reviews about this series but as always, you have to read it before you judge it, but I am hoping that I do enjoy it.

Those are some of the popular books I haven’t read yet and I hope you enjoyed! Don’t forget to comment some of the popular books you haven’t read, and also check out my last post: Reading/Writing Update!

 

 

January 2017 Book Haul!

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Oh my goodness…I thought I got a lot of books in December because of Christmas and whatnot, but somehow this year I managed to accumulate 13 books. I have no idea how this happened but before you go off to judge me I will say all of these are used and were under the price of $3 and altogether I spent under $20 which is so crazy! Anyway, here are the books I purchased in January.

The Princess Diaries, The Princess Diaries: Princess in the Spotlight and The Princess Diaries: Princess in Love by Meg Cabot – These are the first 3 books in The Princess Diaries series which I was obsessed with when I was younger. In these books, we follow Mia Thermopolis an awkward, geeky teenage girl that one day discovers that her father is the Prince of a forgein place called Genovia. I loved these books and cannot wait to give them a re read after 5 years!

Shiver and Linger by Maggie Stiefvater – I do own The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater but I haven’t had the chance to read it yet, but I have heard great things. I have also heard great things about her Shiver trilogy and am very excited to give it a read! I have no idea what it is about but I read a brief portion of the synopsis and from what I gather it has wolves in it…I could be totally wrong though. Continue reading “January 2017 Book Haul!” →