30 Days of Books: Day Three and Four

01 – A book series you wish had gone on longer OR a book series you wish would just freaking end already (or both!) 

02 - A Book or Series you wish more people were reading and talking about.

30 Days of Books

Day 03 – The best book you’ve read in the last 12 months

I have no words for just how effervescent this novel is. I went in expecting to like it, but I wound up loving it. The whole story has a fairytale-like quality that captures your imagination and runs away with it. Valente doesn't waste time trying to simplify her novel for children, but understood that even young children can appreciate a well written story.
The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne M. Valente

Gather up your courage and your wishes; grab a little pinch of luck - and prepare to be swept away, in a ship of your own making, to a land unlike any other. September is a twelve-year-old girl, Somewhat Grown and Somewhat Heartless, and she longs for adventure. So when a Green Wind and a Leopard of Little Breezes invite her to Fairyland - well, of course, she accepts (mightn't you?).When she gets there, she finds a land in crisis and confusion - crushed by the iron rule of a villainous Marquess - she soon discovers that she alone holds the key to restoring order. Having read enough books to know what a girl with a quest must do, September sets out to Fix Things.As September forges her way through Fairyland, with a book-loving dragon and a partly human boy named Saturday by her side, she makes many friends and mistakes; loses her shadow, her shoes and her way. But she finds adventure, courage, a rather special Spoon, and a lot more besides . 

Day 04 – Your favorite book or series ever

Daughter of the Forest by Juliet MarillierTo reclaim the lives of her brothers, Sorcha leaves the only safe place she has ever known and embarks on a journey filled with pain, loss and terror. When she is kidnapped by enemy forces and taken to a foreign land, it seems that there will be no way for Sorcha to break the spell that condemns all that she loves. But magic knows no boundaries, and Sorcha will have to choose between the life she has always known and a love that comes only once.Check out my review here

30 Days of Books: Day Two

30 Days of Books

Day 01 – A book series you wish had gone on longer OR a book series you wish would just freaking end already (or both!) 

Day 02 – A book or series you wish more people were 

reading and talking about

Definitely Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next books! I'm reading them atm and having a blast. It's too clever for me by far but I enjoy it nonetheless! Thursday is a fun character on a great adventure and it's almost too much to bear!

Day 03 – The best book you’ve read in the last 12 months
Day 04 – Your favorite book or series ever
Day 05 – A book or series you hate
Day 06 – Favorite book of your favorite series OR your favorite book of all time
Day 07 – Least favorite plot device employed by way too many books you actually enjoyed otherwise
Day 08 – A book everyone should read at least once
Day 09 – Best scene ever
Day 10 – A book you thought you wouldn’t like but ended up loving
Day 11 – A book that disappointed you
Day 12 – A book or series of books you’ve watched more than five times
Day 13 – Favorite childhood book OR current favorite YA book (or both!)
Day 14 – Favorite character in a book (of any sex or gender)
Day 15 – Your “comfort” book
Day 16 – Favorite poem or collection of poetry
Day 17 – Favorite story or collection of stories (short stories, novellas, novelettes, etc.)
Day 18 – Favorite beginning scene in a book
Day 19 – Favorite book cover (bonus points for posting an image!)
 Day 20 – Favorite kiss
Day 21 – Favorite romantic/sexual relationship (including asexual romantic relationships)
Day 22 – Favorite non-sexual relationship (including asexual romantic relationships)
Day 23 – Most annoying character ever
Day 24 – Best quote from a novel
Day 25 – Any five books from your “to be read” stack
Day 26 – OMG WTF? OR most irritating/awful/annoying book ending
Day 27 – If a book contains ______, you will always read it (and a book or books that contain it)!
Day 28 – First favorite book or series obsession
Day 29 – Saddest character death OR best/most satisfying character death (or both!)
Day 30 – What book are you reading right now? 

Dust blog tour: Devon Ashley's top 10 book picks

Welcome to the next stop on the Dust blog tour! Check out Devon Ashley’s Top Ten Childhood Book Picks and come back on the 21st for my review of the first book in Devon’s exciting new Dust and Darkness trilogy.

Here's a list of some of my favorite books from childhood! All right, I grew up in the 80s so some of these may be waaaay out there! No judging!

1. Anything R.L. Stine: I lived for these thrillers as a young teen, but even then I could figure out the ending by a quarter way through.
2. Choose Your Own Adventure: All right, I don't recall the stories being that great, but the concept of getting to choose my own path in the story...too cool.
3. Trixie Beldon: Kinda like a younger Nancy Drew, which I eventually advanced to. :)
4. Garfield: Of course...everyone read the kazillion books out there about the fat, lazy, lasagna-eating tabby.
5. Bernstein Bears: Never ready anything by Dr. Seuss...go figure! But I loved this bear family.
6. Where the Sidewalk Ends: Some of the best poems ever! LOL. I still remember some of those.
7. More Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark: Can't tell you how many times me and my friends checked this book out of the library. It's just filled with those creepy urban legend stories perfect for freaking out your companions.
8. The Baby-Sitter's Club. Yep...read all those too.


Hmm....I'm not really sure what I read as a really young child, cause my memories are pretty much AWOL on that time. :) For you 80s kids out there, what am I forgetting to mention?

From Raiding Bookshelves: I’m a child of the 90s myself, but I’m going to make a few suggestions. I had a few beloved books from my Mother’s childhood that some of you will know pretty well.
Anything from Enid Blyton (but especially the Far Away Tree books), A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle, The Finches’ Fabulous Furnace by Roger Wolcott Drury and Anne of Green Gables by L.M Montgomery are all beloved childhood favourites that transcend generations.