Musing Mondays (40) Trilogies & Random Weekly Questions

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...

I haven’t done a Musing Monday in a while so here goes nothing. First I’m going to start with some of the random weekly questions that I missed.

Have you ever chosen a book, mostly because of its cover art, and then regretted it because the content didn’t live up to your expectations?

I try not to look at the covers when I’m deciding which books to get, even though there have been some nice ones this year. But I try not to judge books that way and instead look at the synopsis, check out any excerpts that might be available on retailer websites like Amazon and Barnes & Noble, or on the authors’ website. I usually consider the books for a while before I decide what to do. I focus on how much I want the book, which is ultimately the deciding factor. So, I don’t really remember the last book I might have bought just based off the cover, but I do know that I haven’t done so in a very long time.

What has been your most favorite book, so far, this year? Why?

Oh man, I’ve read so many great books this year—The Madman's Daughter, Coraline, The Halloween Tree, Finding Serendipity, just to name a few. But I guess I’ll talk about a recent one that I’ve already reviewed. Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff had a lot going for it. One, the illustrations were nice. Two, the style that was used to tell the story is one of my favorites. And three, It was a solid book that was highly entertaining—there were a lot of details that I found interesting. It was definitely one of the best books I’ve read this year.

Other musings...

I do like standalone novels but I also enjoy trilogies for many typical reasons: I get to see more of the characters who ended up being my favorites, more time for the story to develop, and of course more books written by my favorite authors.

 

I recently started The Elemental Trilogy by Sherry Thomas, starting with The Burning Sky. And I already have The Perilous Sea and The Immortal Heights, so I plan on finishing this trilogy very soon.

The Darkest Minds trilogy (The Darkest Minds, Never Fade, and In the Afterlight) by Alexandra Bracken is also a good one.

And finally, The Mortality Doctrine Trilogy by James Dashner (The Eye of Minds, The Rule of Thoughts, and The Game of Lives, which recently came out). This trilogy had some faults, but I did enjoy it.

So, what are some of your favorite trilogies? Or what are some of the best books you've read in 2015?

Musing Mondays (39) Answers To All Of The Questions...

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...

Its been some time since I did a Musing Mondays post, but today is a new day (and I've missed some great questions). So, I'm just going to answer them below...

Random weekly question(s): If you were forced to spend the rest of your life in a library, a museum, or a zoo, which would you choose — and why?

At first I thought I had it narrowed down to museum or library, but then again zoos are cool too. It kind of makes the decision difficult because I wouldn't mind being stuck in all of them. It would be nice if I could just combine all three, but that's too much of a cop-out. I would say museum, but then again libraries have history books. But at the same time libraries don't have exhibits. Man, what a dilemma. You know what, I'll just go with museum and library since I can't decide, which is still kind of a cop-out but whatever.

Do you make a seasonal reading list? How do you choose what goes on it?

I don't have a seasonal reading list, because I usually decide to read books based off of what I'm in the mood for at the time. So really, it varies. However, I plan to read at least one more book (Coraline by Neil Gaiman) that fits with October/Halloween before the month is over.

Is a rainy day likely to inspire you to read?

Actually, not really. If I happen to read while it rains then yeah, ok, I can roll with that. Sometimes I draw, but rainy days are just another day to me.

Have you ever decorated your house around your love of books? Would you?

Hah, no way. If I ever decided to do that, the entire house would be covered from floor-to-ceiling with bookcases crammed with as many books as I could fit on the shelves. There wouldn't be room for anything else, even the couch could be one with shelves underneath the cushions. It would be kind of cool but also a disaster in the making mainly because California and earthquakes. 

That's pretty much it for today, but since it's October I need a good question to ask (I'm automatically coming up with pumpkins). So, what is your favorite way to eat pumpkin/pumpkin related food? Pie, coffee, cake, scones, etc.?

Musing Mondays (38) All the Weekly Questions I've Missed

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...

And I’m back from my blogging break. So for my musings today I’m going to answer the random weekly question I missed on the 24th and for today.

Does your local library ever have book sales? What are the prices like? Tell us about any great finds you have found there!

I wouldn’t know if my current library had a sale recently because like I’ve said before, it’s kind of far and I haven’t been to it yet. But the library in my last area did, but I didn’t go to it so I wouldn’t know what the prices were like.

What is your favorite book? (or, one of your favorites!)

I have a lot of favorite books and it would take all day to list them, so I’ll stick with the more recent ones. The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken is definitely one of my favorite books of 2015 (I’m kind of late to the series). And Space Exploration for Dummies by Cynthia Phillips & Shana Priwer—I really enjoyed reading about things I already knew and some facts that I’d never heard about. Space Exploration was definitely one of my favorite reads this year.

What are you reading this week?

Musing Mondays (37) Books...

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...

For my musings this week I'm just going to answer the random weekly question: Have you ever won a copy of a book (other than for review)? What was the book, and what were the circumstances?

I have won a lot of books through giveaways, but most if not all of them go towards reviews for the blog. So I can’t really say that many of them specifically fit the question.

What are you currently reading?

Musing Mondays (36) Simple Sort Of Bookish Projects…

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...

First I'm going to start with the random weekly question: Do you read in the water (bathtub, pool, etc)? Why, or why not?

My answer to that question is a resounding no. I might dog-ear the tops of the pages and break the spines, but the only water I would take my books around is a water bottle.

Simple Sort Of Bookish Projects…

I’ve been on Pinterest for a while now and I’ve come across some interesting and very simple projects that I would like to try one day when I have the time. So below is a short list of links…

• 20 Minute Tote bag
• Safety Pin Bracelet
• Bookbinding Tutorial 
• Button Bookmarks

I think I would want to try the Safety Pin Bracelet first. But what about you? Do you have any favorite projects/ones you would like to try?

Musing Mondays (35) Should it be a Movie or TV Show?

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...

This week for Musing Mondays I want to talk about movies and TV shows. This post will not about any specific books, so it’s going to be short.

So a while ago, I finally watched Jupiter Ascending (You can see my review HERE), and I didn’t like it. I got the story, but to me it felt completely unfinished. After posting my review, I thought about it a little more, and I definitely saw the potential the movie had. However, I think that it would have done better if it wasn’t a movie at all, but a TV show with a wider platform and more time to develop the world and work out all of the details. I think that the same could be applied to certain books with world building that might take longer to set up.

I want to know what you think: Would some books/movies do better as a TV show? 

Musing Mondays (34) Space Exploration & Other Things That Have me Excited This Week

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...

(Ok, so this might be a little off topic, but I just have to say that it’s completely awesome that Serena Williams won Wimbledon 2015 (Women’s Singles). Man, what a year for women’s sports!)

Anyway, I’m just going to move on to something that’s actually related to books. Since reading Space Exploration for Dummies, I’ve been more interested in watching shows about…well, the universe. Thankfully I have multiple History channels to watch—even a science one—that actually plays episodes dealing with the universe on some days. So far, I’m enjoying How the Universe Works, and looking forward to the new season that starts on July 14th.

Also, if you haven’t checked out NASAs Instagram you totally should. So I’m just going to link to it now. CLICK HERE TO GET TO IT

So what do you think? Do the books you read sometimes influence what you want to watch?

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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...

Today, since I don't really have much to talk about, I decided that I'm just going to answer the random weekly question: Do you have a favorite book from childhood? What is it?

I have a lot of favorite books from when I was younger, but the most notable ones that I remember were the Spiderwick Chronicles written by Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi. I remember reading the books and just loving the story, characters, setting, and the fairies and everything that happened because of them. The illustrations were also nice and the style always fit with the story. I believe this was the series that got me into fantasy novels to begin with.

I’m also pretty sure that I even got a copy of Arthur Spiderwick’s Field Guide to the Fantastical World Around You and The Spiderwick Chronicles: Notebook for Fantastical Observations. Yeah, I was sort of building a collection of Spiderwick stuff, which was why I was a little disappointed in the movie which changed almost too many things. Anyway, after finishing the Spiderwick Chronicles, I kept reading, moving on to other series like Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer, The Sisters Grimm by Michael Buckley and Charlie Bone (The Children of the Red King) by Jenny Nimmo.

What are some of your favorite books from your childhood?

Musing Mondays (32)

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...

When I think of what I enjoy reading I usually go straight for fantasy or science fiction first before looking to other genres. So obviously those are the two genres that basically dominate my shelf space. But I rarely ever talk about my least favorite genre. Let me tell you, Dystopian came close to that number one spot, but it got beat out by another genre. And my number one least favorite genre is actually contemporary. After looking through most of the books on my shelf, I realized that I had the least amount of contemporary novels compared to others. I even have more books that fall into the dystopian genre.

I have read some contemporary novels, and there were some that I just loved, but others I did not. However, I sometimes find the stories a little boring, which is probably why I lean towards other types of books. I do enjoy mysteries, sometimes even thrillers, but contemporaries that are just love stories and nothing more tend to have me steering clear of them.

So, I’m not going to ask what your favorite genre is since that’s not what the post is about. Instead, what’s your least favorite genre?

Musing Mondays (31)

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

My Musings for the Week...


This week for Musing Mondays I’m going to answer the random weekly question: Do you have different genres for different seasons? For example, do you choose lighter reading material for the summer, and chunkier books in the winter?

During different seasons I usually just read how I normally do. I select books based solely off of what I’m looking to read at that particular point in time. I don’t have any specific genres that I read more than others.

What are your favorite genres?

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

My Musings for the Week...

Have you ever started a series or trilogy but then never ended up finishing it? I know I have over the years for a variety of reasons. Below is a short list of the most common reasons as to why I haven’t finished a series...

• Lost Interest/ Bored 
• Series took a turn for the worse halfway through 
• First book failed to impress me 
• Really liked the initial series but the spinoff novels aren't really doing much for me 
• I just don’t have the last book(s), yet… 
• Uncertain if the end will live up to the glory and wonderfulness of the previous books 
• Finally, sometimes they just need to end, and I don't have the enthusiasm to continue...

I don’t know, maybe later I’ll do a list of series I haven’t finished, but those are the most common reasons why.

So, what are your most common reasons for not finishing a series/trilogy?

Musing Mondays (29)

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

My Musings for the Week...

Today for Musing Mondays I want to talk about books that sort fall into an almost average place, as far as like and dislike is concerned. Over the past week this subject has been on my mind since it is related to two of my recent reads. Basically, I really struggled to decide on how much and how little I liked the books. Both had elements that I liked and some that I really didn’t. My feelings were in the middle.

I was dealing with not one but two books that fell into a sort of gray area.

I realized that my problem was that I didn’t know what I wanted to say at first. Ultimately I did decide on how I was going to finish writing the reviews, but it took me some time to just think about it. I’m usually good at knowing what to write and how to word my reviews, but not this time—well, at least not immediately.

And before I call it quits for this post, I thought I would answer the random weekly.

Random Weekly Question (I haven't done one of these in a while): What types of “special” books do you own? For example, do you have any really old books? Any collections based on your interests (eg. architecture, etc)?

I can’t really say that I have any special books, or a collection concerning a specific subject. I tend to read what I want when I feel like it. Though, the only book on my shelf that is really a “collectible” would be my copy of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland & Other Stories by Lewis Carroll—I really liked the Barnes & Noble edition. Other than that, I have a mixture of books, some about space, others about figures in science, and a whole lot of fiction.

Have you ever struggled with finding the right words to sum up your feelings about a book?

Musing Mondays (28)

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

My Musings for the Week...

And I’m back to blogging! I hope everyone had a lovely day yesterday. So, moving right along, this week my musings have to do with DNFing books. It’s a topic I haven’t really spoken much on before, so I thought I would do a post about it.

Usually, if I feel the need to DNF a book it’s because I’m not personally enjoying my reading experience. I give the books the first 100 pages, sometimes even a little more, to impress me enough to want to keep reading. But on some occasions I just give up and move on. It could be for a number of reasons—sometimes its the story itself despite the writing, which could be some of the best I've ever come across, it just depends.

I have no problem DNFing a book or sharing my reasons for doing so. Think of it this way. Why would I want to spend hours finishing something that I’m not enjoying? I have a bunch of books sitting on my shelf that are practically calling my name—I figure that it would be better to spend time reading what I enjoy rather than the other way around. I used to be the kind of reader that tried to finish every book I ever started, but by doing that—even trudging through books I didn’t like, from start to finish—I ended up in too many reading slumps.

The bottom line is that DNFing when necessary works for me, especially when I don’t have the enthusiasm to continue on with the book in question.

So, what are your thoughts on DNFing? Do you feel the need to finish every book you start?

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

My Musings for the Week...


Its Monday again, so I decided that I would participate in Musing Mondays this week. So today I’m musing about cover art. This year I have seen some spectacular cover art for serval books, like Ten Thousand Skies Above You by Claudia Gray and Shadow Scale by Rachel Hartman. (I haven’t read these books, I might not, but the covers are nice.) It got me thinking about some of my favorite artist. Some of which include Michael O, John Harris, and Stevie Lewis.

John Harris has done some of my favorite covers, because honestly I like his style of art. Some of his art has been featured on novels by Ann Leckie and John Scalzi.

This next one shouldn't come as much of a surprise, but I had to mention her. You know, Mary GrandPré, she illustrated Harry Potter. I don’t even think I can further explain this one, so I’ll leave it at the fact that her art is fantastic.

The next artist that I want to mention is Adam S. Doyle. I actually really like his covers for The Raven Cycle Series & the Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater.

Stevie Lewis illustrated one of my favorite books this year, Finding Serendipity, so it’s easy to see why I’m a fan of her artwork.

Really, I could go on and on, so I’m just going to leave it at that for today. So what are some of your favorite books covers?

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

My Musings for the Week...

This week for Musing Mondays I wanted to talk briefly about books with open endings. I like standalone novels just as much as I enjoy series, but another aspect I pay attention to are the endings. Specifically, the end of a series or that of a standalone—I like to know that the story ends with a lot of the loose ends wrapped up. It could suggest that there are things that happen after the story ends, but for me it has to feel complete—like the adventure that brought the characters together has finally reached its conclusion.

But there are those that are left open, like something else needed to be said, but ultimately wasn't. My co-blogger recently came across a book that I would say had a pretty open ending—I’m not naming which book it was—but we had to discuss it. The details about what actually happened were vague—so much so that it was difficult to tell how the story actually ended. It could have been one way, but then it’s unclear so it could have been something else entirely. 

So, have you ever come across a book with an open ending? Did you feel the need to discuss it with others who have read the book?

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

My Musings for the Week...

This week I'm going to be reading John Shaw's Guide to Digital Nature Photography by John Shaw.  This book is considerably shorter than the Space Exploration book I finished reading over the weekend, and I have to say that I'm pretty excited about this one. So, what are you reading this week?  If you want, tell me in the comments below.

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

My Musings for the Week...

Usually when I think about book to movie adaptations the first ones that come to mind are the more recent ones like The Maze Runner, Harry Potter, and so on. Here’s a very short list of some of my favorite ones…

**I have not read all of the books that go along with the movies**

• Matilda
• Howl’s Moving Castle
• The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, Prince Caspian, & The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
• Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, & The Return of the King
• The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, The Desolation of Smaug, & The Battle of the Five Armies
• How to Train Your Dragon

What are some of your other favorite book to movie adaptations?

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

My Musings for the Week...

This week I'm going to start the The Dragon King by Nils Johnson-Shelton. This book released on December 31, 2013, and I look forward to seeing how this trilogy ends.

Goodreads     Amazon     Barnes & Noble     Book Depository     Book Outlet

Summary from Goodreads...

Artie Kingfisher, his sister, Kay, and the New Knights of the Round Table have finally reached the legendary isle of Avalon. But before Artie can take his place as King Arthur reborn, he must recover nothing less than the mythical Holy Grail. And as the greatest battle of his life looms, Artie finds himself facing off against the one person he never dreamed he'd be fighting...
Random weekly question: How often do you use your local library? Are you happy with their availability?

I don't really use the library in my new area so I can't comment on the availability of the books they have.

What are you reading this week?