Reading Habits Book Tag

Today I'm participating in the Reading Habits Book Tag created by TheBookJazz. This one has been around for a while, but it seemed like it might be fun to answer the questions anyway. As always, don't forget to check out the original video HERE

Do you have a certain place at home for reading?

I usually just read at my desk since its closer to where I keep the majority of my books. Plus I have a lamp there that provides the perfect amount of light for reading.

Bookmark or random piece of paper?

Sometimes I'll use a bookmark, but I hardly do.  Most of the time I just dog ear the tops of the pages.

Can you just stop reading or do you have to stop after a chapter/ a certain amount of pages?

Honestly, I can stop reading at any point of the book. It doesn't have to be at the start of a new chapter or after a certain amount of pages.  It depends solely on when I feel like putting the book down or need to stop and do other things.

Do you eat or drink while reading?

I sometimes drink water, but I usually leave the book behind if I'm about to eat. The last thing I want to do is spill something on it. Food stains on a book would be a pretty terrible thing.

Multitasking: Music or TV while reading?

I actually like to listen to music while reading. TV is a little more distracting, but I've done it before and there's a high probability that I'll do it again in the next few days.

One book at a time or several at once?

Oh, definitely one book at a time. In fact, I like to give myself at least a week to finish a book and the review before moving on to something else.

Reading at home or everywhere?

At home—I don't like reading when I'm out since there's too many things that would end up distracting me.

Reading out loud or silently in your head?

Mostly I'll read silently in my head unless I'm reading parts of a book to someone else during a discussion or something like it.

Do you read ahead or even skip pages?

What?  Read ahead?  Skipping Pages?  I'd like to say no way. However, its a little more complicated than that. I won't skip ahead especially if its a book that I'm enjoying.  Now if its something that's failing to get my interest I might skip a number of pages to see if I want to even continue on with the book in question.

Breaking the spine or keeping it like new?

Uh, I really don't care about the spines of my books, so breaking them isn't a problem for me.

Do you write in your books?

Uh-uh, no. I don't write in my books under any circumstance.  I might dog ear the pages but writing in them is a big no for me. I'd rather use Post It's to stick little notes in the books if I really needed to.

Who do you tag?

I tag anyone who wants to participate.

Don't forget to visit TheBookJazz over on Youtube. Happy reading!

Musing Mondays (27)

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?

Weekend Tidbits {#1}: Music, Movie Teaser Trailers, & Mint

When I originally thought of doing some kind of occasional weekend post, I already knew that it wasn’t going to be a weekly thing. It’s going to be, as I said above, occasional. All this post is about is the things I’m currently doing or maybe even look forward to. And at the very end I’ll name a place that I wish was a book setting and my choice of tea for the day.

So for this first post I’m going to talk about what I was doing last weekend. From Friday the 10th, all the way through Sunday the 12th, the music festival Coachella had a live broadcast on Youtube. I have to say that I genuinely enjoyed all of the music, and I got some reading in. I’ve discovered a lot of new artist that I probably wouldn’t have otherwise.  Needless to say, I've made a few purchases to add some of my new favorite songs to my playlist.

Visit Coachella’s youtube page HERE
You can find out more about Coachella on their website HERE

On another note, besides Coachella, the Star Wars the Force Awakens teaser trailer released on Thursday…oh my god, what can I even say about that? Well, it brings up a lot of memories and all I can really say is that I am looking forward to December.

You can check out that teaser trailer HERE

Grüner See (Green Lake) is a lake in Styria, Austria. I really do like this lake and I think it would make an interesting book setting.

It just seems like a mint kind of day. So Mint is my choice of tea for today.

Series/Novels I Want to see on the Screen

Today I thought I would talk about something different rather than posting another review. I’ve read a lot of good books over the past few years, which got me thinking about book adaptations. There are the movies, but what about TV shows? Sometimes I think some novels would do better with a long running series rather than trying to condense the book down into a single film. But keeping on point with this post, I’m just going to move on to why I’m really writing it. I wanted to share some of the series/novels I would like to see on the screen—doesn’t matter which screen—and below is that list…

Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer: Overall I like this series and would like to see any adaption of it.

Finding Serendipity by Angelica Banks: This book surprised me by how much I enjoyed it, and like with the Lunar Chronicles, I would love to see this novel on the screen.

Scarlett Undercover by Jennifer Latham: Yeah, movie or TV, but what I really want is a sequel.

Any Brandon Sanderson Series: no further explanation.

The Archived series by Victoria Schwab: I like the characters relationships with one another as well as the interesting concept, which makes me wonder what a movie would be like for this one.

Double Vision Series by F.T. Bradley: I love this trilogy and wish there were more books—movie or TV.

Leviathan Trilogy by Scott Westerfeld: I love this series so much, the alternative history setting was done so well, and the concept was just awesome. Movie or TV for this one, I don’t care which, I would just like to see it adapted.

Gravity & Hover by Melissa West: I would say the last book too, but I haven’t read it yet, though I did enjoy Hover more than I did Gravity—it’s a good series.

The Spiderwick Chronicles by  Tony DiTerlizzi & Holly Black: The movie for this one wasn't so great, but when I saw it I noticed all of the changes and things that were removed from it. I would actually like to see this series as a TV show instead.

What books would you like to see on the screen?

Musing Mondays (26)

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?

The Friday 56 (24)

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

The quote I'm sharing today comes from the book I already finished, and you can check out the review HERE. The quote comes from the preface, but its one I wanted to share anyway.

"The process of nature photography is always changing, always evolving--new products and new techniques come along all the time.  I encourage you to develop your own way of working, your own equipment choices, and, most of all, your own vision."--John Shaw's Guide to Digital Nature Photography by John Shaw

What's on your page 56 this week? Or, what book do you plan on reading soon?

Review: John Shaw's Guide to Digital Nature Photography by John Shaw

Title: John Shaw's Guide to Digital Nature Photography 
Author: John Shaw
Source/Format: Blogging for Books, Paperback Review Copy
More Details: Nonfiction
Publisher/Publication Date: Amphoto Books, March 17, 2015

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Summary from Goodreads...

John Shaw is the author of seven previous photography books published by Amphoto: his authentic voice and trusted advice has helped photographers achieve impressive shots in the great outdoors for decades. In his first-ever book on digital photography, Shaw provides in-depth advice on everything from equipment and lenses, composition, and close-ups, to up-to-date information on software filtration and the histogram. In addition, he offers inspirational and frank insight that goes far beyond the nuts and bolts of photography, explaining that successful photos come from having a vision, practicing, and then acquiring the equipment needed to accomplish the intention. Easily digestible and useful for every type of photographer, John Shaw's Guide to Digital Nature Photographyis sure to be the new classic in the category...

John Shaw’s Guide to Digital Nature Photography was a very informative book, and I realized that I had a lot to learn. Thankfully I’m not doing any serious photography to where I immediately need everything mentioned—this book is still something I’m glad I found—and something I’m even more thrilled to have on my shelf. The first chapter alone offers a comprehensive look at photography gear—lenses, tripods, cameras, filters, file types and a few other things. And then the following chapters delve more into the best ways to use what you have to capture the best photo. So if you’re looking to get into photography, or just need to brush up on your skills, then I recommend checking this book out.

I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review, thank you!

John Shaw is one of the world's leading nature photographers and the author of many enduring bestselling books. His photographs are frequently featured in National Wildlife, Outdoor Photographer, Natural History, Sierra, and Audubon magazines, as well as in calendars, books, and advertisements. He lives in Colorado Springs.