Music Monday (10) The Christmas Edition

   Rules:

• Music Monday is a weekly meme hosted by Lauren Stoolfire at Always Me that asks you to share one or two songs that you've recently enjoyed. For the rules, visit the page HERE 

It’s the 19th, which means that its time for the Christmas Edition of Music Monday. Yes! I have been waiting all month to do this post. So today, Adri and I are going to share some of our favorite holiday music.

Breana: My first pick this week is O Holy Night performed by Mariah Carey. I actually really like the entire Merry Christmas album, but O Holy Night is just so fantastic. Mariah Carey’s version is still one of my favorites. I grew up listening to this version of O Holy Night, so it's no wonder why I still enjoy listening to it every December.

My second pick this week is Carol of Bells sung by Pentatonix. It’s just so good! I also recommend checking out more of Pentatonix's holiday music.

Adri: Okay, so I like a lot of the Christmas songs, but for me this is the season of "I really don't want to get out of bed, its too cold!" As such, I like to listen to smoother songs. So here are two of the songs I'm listening to, but trust me, there is a lot more. I'm just not naming them.

My first selection is O Holy Night sung by Yolanda Adams. I never actually "found" this song, rather I've just been listen to it since the ipod shuffle 2nd gen (thanks mom).

For my final song, I'm going with Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas performed by Kenny G. For me, this song is more of a recent find; however, I have listened to his other songs too. I find myself listening to this version when I want to get into a festive mood and relax.

What is some of the go-to music off your holiday playlist?

Musing Monday (65) Wintry Reads

I'm a little late to this since I haven't participated in this meme in a couple of weeks. Musing Mondays has undergone some changes. Jenn at Books and a Beat no longer hosts the weekly meme. Instead, Musing Mondays has moved to The Purple Booker. Other than that, Musing Mondays is still the same.

Revised rules: 

• Musing Mondays is a weekly meme hosted by Ambrosia at The Purple Booker that asks you to muse about something book related each week. 

My musings for the week...

I figured that I might as do one last Musing Mondays post before 2016 is over. To start out, I'm going to get caught up on some of the random weekly questions before moving on to my other musings.

Random weekly question from December 12th: Does reading help you to release stress during stressful times? If it does do you have a favorite book that you return to for calm?

For the most part I read for entertainment, but sometimes I do read to relieve stress. Normally, if on those rare occasions that I do, I would probably pick up one of the nonfiction books I keep on my shelf, or one of the manga series that I have.

Random weekly questions from November 28th: If you were a character, which author would you trust with your life (to write your story)?

Oh man, this is kind of a hard question. I mean, a lot of the books I've read I just wouldn't want to be those characters in those situations. But if I was a character and had to pick an author to trust to write my story, it would probably be myself. I wouldn't be able to trust anyone else to tell my story.

Random weekly question from December 5th: Do you visit your local library regularly? If so, what’s your earliest memory of visiting a library?

I don't visit my local library regularly. It's kind of far from where I currently live, as such, it's only recently that I've started going more often. And, I've been going to the library with my mom since I could remember.

Other Musings...

Today, I wanted to talk about some of my favorite books that have themes, settings, or characters who are wintry in some way or another. I know I’ve probably missed a few great read, but these books are ones that immediately came to mind for this post. Hence, this list is going to be kind of short. Anyway, let’s get started…

• My first pick is Wintersmith by Terry Pratchett—This book has a lot of wintry things and even begins with a scene where the setting was submerged in snow. The title, themes, and select characters are the main reason why Wintersmith is on this list.
• Next is The Snow Queen by Hans Christain Andersen—This is an obvious one. The Snow Queen has a lot of wintery aspects about it, even the titular character, the Snow Queen.
• The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis—It has been so long since I read this book that I actually want to go back and reread it again. I always remember really liking this story and the movie adaptation is just one of my favorites. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is on this list for obvious reasons—Narnia, which is trapped in winter, and the White Witch.
• And last but certainly not least, The Twistrose Key by Tone Almhjell—This is a book I recently enjoyed. I loved all the details, the descriptive prose, and the characters. Another cool part of the book was the setting, which was cold and snowy.

Have you read any books that have wintry themes, settings, or characters? If so, tell me in the comments below.

Weekend Tidbits {#9} Whats New In TVland

Today, I’m going to talk about something a little different. For Weekend Tidbits, I normally talk about a movie trailer I recently saw, or something that I’ve cooked or baked recently, even books I’m really looking forward to. But I never actually talk about what I watch during the week. So, for today, I’m going to talk about a couple of recent TV related things that I’m really excited about.

Do you like Mythbusters? Are you as sad as I am that the show and the old cast signed off for the last time earlier this year? Well, you’re in luck. The science channel is having a Mythbusters mega marathon starting on December 23rd. I have seen the majority of the Mythbusters episodes, but I’m still excited for this marathon. Also in Mythbusters news, apparently, the show is coming back…eventually. If you watch the Science Channel you’ve probably already seen it and know what I’m about to talk about. Oh yes, apparently Mythbusters: The Search is going to be a thing. While I am—and already do—miss the old cast, I can’t help but be a little excited that the show is coming back. I will, however, remain cautiously optimist about this. You can find out more about the show and watch a first look HERE. Mythbusters: The Search premieres on January 7th.

Another show I’m looking forward to is NBCs Emerald City. I’ve been waiting for a premiere date to be announced since I first heard about the show and saw the initial images. I mean, it’s basically a retelling of The Wizard of Oz. I’m really excited to see how it turns out. I hope its good **my fingers are crossed**. Emerald City premieres on January 6th and you can check out the preview, watch a sneak peek, and learn more about the show HERE.

I could go with the easier way and pick mint tea as my choice of preferred drink. However, I'm not going to do that. Instead, today's choice of tea is simple green tea with a peppermint candy cane dissolved into it (basically, my new favorite way to have green tea). 

ARC Review: Iceling by Sasha Stephenson

Title: Iceling
Author: Sasha Stephenson 
Source/Format: First to Read; eARC
More Details: Young Adult; Science Fiction
Publisher/Publication Date: Razorbill; December 13, 2016

Goodreads     Amazon     Barnes & Noble     Book Depository

Synopsis from Goodreads...

Lorna’s adopted sister, Callie, is part of a mysterious group of non-lingual teens, Icelings, born on a remote Arctic island, who may not be entirely human. Now Callie wants to go home...

Seventeen-year-old Lorna loves her adoptive sister, Callie. But Callie can’t say “I love you” back. In fact, Callie can’t say anything at all. Because Callie is an Iceling—one of hundreds of teens who were discovered sixteen years ago on a remote Arctic island, all of them lacking the ability to speak or understand any known human language. Mysterious and panicked events lead to the two sisters embarking on a journey to the north, and now Lorna starts to see that there’s a lot more to Callie’s origin story than she’d been led to believe. Little does she know what’s in store, and that she’s about to uncover the terrifying secret about who—and what—Callie really is.

Two words: road trip. Buckle up dear readers, because I need to talk about this book.

Originally, Iceling by Sasha Stephenson wasn’t one of my most anticipated books of 2016. If anyone would have asked me about the book back in February, I wouldn’t have had much of an answer. Simply put, I hadn’t heard much about this book. However, I eventually saw the synopsis and I liked all the ideas that it introduced and was immediately excited about Iceling.

Just like with every book I’ve ever read, there were things that I really loved about Iceling, and others that I felt sort of mixed about. By no means was this a bad book. In fact, the twists were really surprising and kept me on my toes, and once the plot hit all those pivotal moments the story turned out to be fantastic.

I’m going to talk about what I didn’t like just to get it out of the way. What I disliked about Iceling was the parts that seemed like they were a little extraneous. There were semi-long stretches where facts that had already been stated seemed to be repeated back in several, differently worded ways. I’ve got nothing against repetition since I think it can be used as emphasis to make a point. In Iceling, it was a little much for me, but not something that made me rage-quit the book.

Now, what I did like outweighed what I didn’t like about the book. The synopsis left me with a lot of questions. However, the biggest draw for me was really the Icelings. The Icelings were interesting and probably my favorite part of the book. I really liked them and the role they played in the story. I also liked how the relationships between the Icelings and their adopted siblings were set up. The plot was, overall, really good. Once the story picked up, I could see what Stephenson was setting up during the initial chapters of the book. And man, the end result was something wholly memorable.

Iceling was a solid start to something that could turn out to be a great series. Suffice it to say, I want to see where this goes, and so I have to sit here and wait until book two comes out.

This copy of the book was provided by First to Read (Publisher) for this review, thank you!

 

About the author...

2016 Holiday Gift Guide

One of the things I wanted to do this year was put together a short gift guide to give you—the blog readers—some ideas for small gifts and stocking stuffers. I wanted to stay away from the more costly items. Hence, most of the stuff I’m going to mention down below is $20 or less. Quick note: The availability of some of the items are subject to change, but they’re in the photo as a sort of general example for the things I want to mention. I will add the links for the items I can find available online (look for the bold and italicized sections). Let’s get started…

• Books & Gift Cards...

Pictured above: None.
Comments: I think this is an obvious one. Books just make great gifts, and gift cards are always nice to give and receive.

• Headphones... 

Pictured above: VIVITAR Stereo Headphones.
Comments: I firmly believe that you can never have too many sets of headphones. They break so easily or one ear goes out—and the other is soon to follow. With that said, a set of headphones could make a nice gift.

• Funko...

Pictured above: Alice in Wonderland Alice Funko Pop.
Comments: Funko is probably one of my favorite items from this list. There is such a wide range of them available—from TV shows to movies—that there’s almost something for everyone. They also look very nice on a shelf.

• Music...

Pictured above: Badlands by Halsey, Starboy by The Weeknd.
Comments: This is another great one. Having an extensive playlist is always nice, adding even more music to it is even better.

• Art supplies... 

Pictured above: Sketchbook from Walmart (I use this one regularly, and it’s good for dry mediums), Prismacolor Premier Dual Tip Marker, Sakura Gelly Role White Gel Pen, and Sakura Micron Pen.
Comments: Art supplies can be costly no matter which medium you use, whether that’s digital, dry, or ink. Individually, some of the supplies are under $20, like prismacolor markers.

• Bookmarks... 

Pictured above: Initial It! Bookmark from Barnes & Noble.
Comments: Perfect for readers who don’t habitually dog-ear their pages like I do. I rarely use a bookmark, but I absolutely adore the ones from Barnes & Noble.

• Hotwheels...

Pictured above: The Beatles Yellow Submarine, The Mystery Machine, and The Jetsons Capsule Car; (availability is not guaranteed but its always fun to hunt for the ones you want).
Comments: This is actually an inexpensive gift, and if you know what you’re looking for, you can find some pretty neat cars like The Beatles Yellow Submarine and the Ghostbusters Ecto-1.

• Accessories...

Pictured above: Pink Silicone Watch from Michaels, comes in a lot of colors and a few different styles (A lot of the colors are out of stock online except for hot pink. However, they might still be available in-store).
Comments: It‘s kind of simple to find all sorts of nice things and keep the cost down. One of my favorite items is the silicon watch I got from Michaels a while ago.

• Coffee mugs...

Pictured above: Owl Coffee Mug.
Comments: The only reason coffee mugs made it onto this list is because most of them are under $20, finding them is ridiculously easy, and they come in anything from the basic solid colored cup to ones with owls on them.

So that’s it for today. I hope you find this guide helpful in some way. Happy reading!