Musing Mondays (43) Books Beyond Fiction

Musing Mondays is a weekly meme hosted by Jenn at A Daily Rhythm, that asks you to muse about something book related each week.

My Musings for the Week...

Random weekly question from January 4th: What do you do when you finish a book? Do you immediately start another one?

Most of the time I don't start another book right after I've finished one. Usually, I have to finish reviews before I move on. So it take a little time to let the information process and find the right words to describe how much or how little I liked a book. Only then do I start to think about what I want to read next.

Other Musings:

Post #43, a.k.a. the first Musing Monday's post of 2016. **throws confetti** It's been a while, and I figured that it was time to get back into the swing of things. And Musing Monday's seemed like a good way to do it.

Today I wanted to talk about books, or more specifically, types of books. I enjoy fiction--from the occasional paranormal to science fiction and fantasy--there's nothing wrong with that. But, I do enjoy other books beyond that. So, what about the other types of books? Biographies, history, how-to's, science, essays--all the subcategories that fall into the nonfiction side of the bookish spectrum.

What other kinds of books do I actually enjoy reading?

I have a few specific topics that I particularly enjoy. History is one of my favorites. I could read about history all day and not really mind (I always feel like there's something to be learned). I also enjoy exploring science. Cooking, obviously, because I enjoy baking--plus its also nice to have extra recipe's on-hand.

The common theme is that a lot of the different types of books I read are based around my interests. Cooking, because I love to bake; books on art techniques, because I'm always looking to refine my skills; history because...well history is history. I look forward to reading more of these books in 2016. You know, I just want to step into genre's that I might not typically read.

So, what kind of books do you enjoy reading besides fiction? Or, what was one of the books you read in 2016?

The Friday 56 (48) Guys Read: Terrifying Tales edited by Jon Scieszka

The Friday 56 is a weekly meme hosted by Freda's Voice where every Friday you pick a book and turn to page 56 or 56%, and select a sentence or a few, as long as it's not a spoiler. For the full rules, visit the the page HERE

Synopsis from Goodreads...

Be afraid, be very afraid of Terrifying Tales, the sixth volume in the Guys Read Library of Great Reading.

Eleven masters of suspense—Kelly Barnhill, Michael Buckley, Adam Gidwitz, Adele Griffin and Lisa Brown, Claire Legrand, Nikki Loftin, Daniel José Older, Dav Pilkey, R.L. Stine, and Rita Williams-Garcia—have come together to bring you a bone-chilling collection of original ghost stories with illustrations by Gris Grimly, perfect for sharing around the campfire, reading under the covers with a flashlight, and scaring your friends’ pants off.

Compiled and edited by kid-lit madman Jon Scieszka, Guys Read: Terrifying Tales is a creepy-fun read (if you’re brave enough, that is)...

"I peek down at Mrs. Carlson's front window and see the curtain twitch, like she's watching. I pull the kid toward me and whisper. "Listen dude, I don't know how much she's paying you, but it's not worth it. She's messed up.""--Guys Read: Terrifying Tales edited by Jon Scieszka

What's on your page 56 this week?

2016 New Year Blogging Resolutions

Now that I’m completely done with 2015, it’s time to start looking forward to the year ahead and what kind of reading/blogging I want to do. So, today I want to talk about a few of my 2016 New Year Blogging Resolutions. It’s not going to be very different because I want to keep doing what’s been working for me, and try to be as consistent as possible with blogging/reading. I plan to try some different non-blogging activities this year, so I definitely want to make sure I have the time to actually do those things. Anyway, I’m going to get back to the subject of today’s post, my resolutions.

1. Take breaks when needed. I think this is an important one. Taking breaks last year really helped me get out of the occasional reading slump.
2. Try more authors that are unfamiliar to me. This worked well for me last year, and thanks to that I have a bunch of new favorites. I guess this one could count for also getting out of my comfort zone and trying books in different genres.
3. Read more of the older books on my shelf. I have a bunch of books, many that I have read (years ago, before I started blogging) but just haven’t reviewed—kind of the beginning of my collection of books. They’ve just been sitting there collecting dust, and recently I went through them. I know I’ve read them, but I don’t really remember them too much about some of them. So, it would be kind of fun to go back and read them again.
4. Avoid the Goodreads 2016 reading challenge. I don’t like to set a specific number, because I want to avoid putting pressure on myself. The number of books I read just depends on how many I get to.

Those are my resolutions. They’re simple enough, but who really knows how the year is going to go until it actually happens.

Pre-order Promotion: Titans by Victoria Scott

Victoria Scott's latest young adult novel is coming out soon, and she's running a promotion. If you pre-order Titans and send proof of purchase to Victoria Scott, you'll get a signed poster and book plate. You'll also be entered for a chance to win a skype chat with Victoria Scott. This offer is valid from January 11th to February 19th.

Check out the post HERE

Check out Victoria Scott's    Website    Twitter  &  Goodreads

About Titans...
Author: Victoria Scott
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Publication Date: February 23, 2016

Synopsis from Goodreads...

Ever since the Titans first appeared in her Detroit neighborhood, Astrid Sullivan’s world has revolved around the mechanical horses. She and her best friend have spent countless hours watching them and their jockeys practice on the track. It’s not just the thrill of the race. It’s the engineering of the horses and the way they’re programmed to seem so lifelike. The Titans are everything that fascinates Astrid, and nothing she’ll ever touch.

She hates them a little, too. Her dad lost everything betting on the Titans. And the races are a reminder of the gap between the rich jockeys who can afford the expensive machines to ride, and the working class friends and neighbors of Astrid’s who wager on them.

But when Astrid’s offered a chance to enter an early model Titan in this year’s derby, well, she decides to risk it all. Because for a girl from the wrong side of the tracks, it’s more than a chance at fame or money. Betting on herself is the only way she can see to hang on to everyone in the world she cares about...

Add to Goodreads TBR & Pre-order

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End of the Year Post (2015)

Well, I'm finally back. 2015 is finally over and I’m ready to put that year firmly behind me; however, I guess I need to talk about it somewhat. First, I hope everyone had a great holiday. I enjoyed my mini hiatus from the internet. I did read, but not as much as I thought I would since I was preoccupied with other things, and now I’m ready to get back to blogging.

So, what did I really think of 2015?

Well, 2015 started out on a good note for blogging. I made some changes to how I wrote posts and how many reviews I did per week, which worked out better. I didn’t really set any goals besides trying to read at least one book per week, maybe more if I felt like it. Mostly I kept to the first hundred pages for books—if it didn’t grab me then it just didn’t, factors tend to vary—which helped me get to more novels that I ended up enjoying, rather than spending time on something that just wasn’t for me.

As for the books, well I got a lot of reading done, which I’m pretty happy about. I found a lot of new favorites, read a couple of trilogies, and started some new series that I do want to finish—plus, I’m waiting for several sequels to come out. So in terms of reading, 2015 was an extremely good year, and I hope that trend continues. There were some books I didn’t enjoy, but they were so few and far between that it didn’t throw me off too badly—I did take a couple of breaks when I needed them.

For now, I'm pretty happy with the blog art, but who knows, I might get the urge to update it (but there's no telling if or when that might happen).

So that’s about it. Happy reading!

Up next: 2016 New Year’s Blogging Resolutions