Top Ten Series I Need To Finish

Hosted by: The Broke and Bookish

 

 You know, I've become somewhat notorious for not completing series lately, which is really weird because I didn't used to be that way inclined at all!  But I suppose I'm reading more ongoing series these days (and then I get scared by the last book which is why so many of these I've read all but the last book).  The first half of these are series I plan to savor though, so I don't expect to finish them soon as some of them have been beloved since I was a kid, and all of these authors have died so I know I won't be getting anything new from them *sniffles*.  The second half I have no excuses for though, so I need to get to them haha!

Redwall by Brian Jacques

Man, this series is such a definitive part of my childhood. I am so sad that I've only got about three books in the series left. I own almost all the books too, although I'm sure I'm missing a few other than the last ones I haven't read.  The one pictured above is my favourite, although Mariel of Redwall was a close favourite!

Discworld by Terry Pratchett

Happily for me, I only discovered Terry Pratchett in the past year, so I've only read The Wee Free Men.  I have so many Discworld books to look forward to!  Now if only I could figure out what order to read it in....

Animorphs by K.A. Applegate

Speaking of definitive parts of childhood, I'm pretty sure I didn't read anything else during 5th grade.  (Ok that's a lie. I read Harry Potter too. But still.) I'm actually surprised I never finished the series, and I'm a little foggy on how far I actually got since I looked up what happened a few years ago.  Turns out that libraries don't have the whole series together anymore! So I've started collecting my own copies of this because I am determined to shove this series into every kid old enough to handle it's face because it is one of those IMPORTANT series. Important with a capital I.

Pern by Anne McCaffrey

 

 Ah sci-fi telepathic dragons. How can you NOT love this series?  And there are so many branches off of it that, like Discworld, it's sometimes hard to know what to read next!  Luckily I have quite a few of these left to read as well :)

Chrestomanci by Diana Wynne Jones

 

Oh I love Diana Wynne Jones and I still have her longest series to look forward to!  

 

Gods & Monsters by Kelly Keaton

 Holy crap! In looking up this series I just discovered there's a fourth book that was just published!  ..that..I marked as to read already so I must have known about it and forgotten about it and gone through this whole swirl of emotions already.  Whoops.  I seriously LOVED the first two books in this series though, the mythology and world building are really awesome, and it uses the two together in a fairly unique way for what you usually see. I mean...post-apocalyptic, paranormal, Greek mythology? How often do you see THAT combination?

Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi

 

I've enjoyed the first two books a lot, but it's missing that something that has me jumping to the next book. It's weird because as soon as I started the second book (which I also delayed on) I was like...oh yeah I really liked this! Why did I take so long? ...and yet here I am doing the exact same thing on the third book haha

Heroes of Olympus by Rick Riordan

There's just so many books!! I know there's a lot of books in the other series I listed earlier, but with the exception of Animorphs, the stories are somewhat self contained so it doesn't MATTER that much if you remember things between books!  I got thoroughly confused with this series after waiting to long and am going to have to commit to rereading it and there's just so many more books left to get to!  How on earth does he manage to write so many??

Hound Saga by Mette Ivie Harrison

So I'm an unpopular opinion on this one, but I REALLY liked this story.  It's very much an original fairy tale, but told in a similar manner and style to a traditional one.  And that is just so my thing.  So of course I want to read the rest!  But I'm bad about going to the library for hard copies (although I DO think this library has one - my last one didn't), so I haven't checked the next book out yet.

Killer Unicorns by Diana Peterfreund

GUYS GUYS GUYS IT'S VENOMOUS, MAN-EATING UNICORNS!! I mean come on.  It's AWESOME.  Plus it has an interesting dialogue on sex that I feel you don't get to see too often, particularly in fantasy based novels. (Hint: sex positivity, but about NOT having sex! I'm happy enough when I see sex positivity of any kind, but it's always about having sex, which is good too, but I like having both options!)  But I really, REALLY don't have an excuse with this one - my awesome Secret Santa bought be a copy for my Christmas present, and I've had 9 months to get to it already...I just haven't.  BUT I WILL.

What about you guys? What series are you behind on?  Tell me or leave a link in the comments!

A Day in the Life #39 + August Wrap Up

 

First, I just wanted to send out a big thank you to everyone who has commented on the blog, (or sent me tweets!)  Every message from you guys is always such a huge boost for me, and I have had some really lovely conversations with you guys over the past few weeks.  Last Tuesday I found out that two of my colleagues died, one of whom I had been fairly close with my first year in grad school, and it was just such a help that you guys have been so open and friendly, and really your comments just carried me through that (even thought none of you knew anything about this).  Sometimes I get to feeling a bit cursed, because short of people who have survived war or natural disaster, I feel like I've had more friends and family die in my lifetime than most of my other friends (my age) combined.  Which is really a self-pitying way of putting it seeing as I'm one of the lucky ones who has gotten through life this far, and being surrounded by so many positive people both in person and online snaps me out of that nonsense pretty quickly because I really have had such a lucky life.  But these two have been in my thoughts constantly over the last couple weeks, and every time I listen to a CSO recording of Tchaikovsky 4, I will almost certainly think of Alex.  

 

So, basically the past couple weeks have been INTENSE.  I had an audition tape due on Tuesday, but had planned on finishing everything by Monday night to submit it.  There were a series of problems:

1. I couldn't get the link for submitting to work

2. It was a video/audio audition tape and while I had the audio....I accidentally deleted the video.  Because I am dumb. But it was a good lesson to know.

3. When I DID get the link to work they said they weren't accepting submissions anymore even though the deadline. 

So basically I didn't sleep (and Monday and Tuesdays I work at two jobs so I have loooooong days) and spent my first four hours awake on Tuesday anxiously awaiting an e-mail saying whether they'd let me submit or not, only to realize that when they did say it was ok that I literally had 45 minutes to get a take of my concerto. So basically I cycled between despair, elation, and exhaustion haha.  The good news is that I got a good take on my second try which is AWESOME because the Mozart is super not my forte.  Unfortunately, the likelihood of me ever being called for this group is slim since I only found out about the audition two weeks ago and they're kind of doing a first come first serve which has been open since June and there's only ever going to be one oboe position open (also assuming they even like the tape I sent in).  BUT it was definitely well worth doing.  It didn't cost me any money, and it really jump started me on the Mozart (which I usually procrastinate on working on since I have such a hard time with it).  It also means I have video recordings saved up for the next time a video recording comes in on short notice which is an investment in and of itself!

So it was a rough, stressful time I've been spending away from the blog, but it definitely hasn't been all bad.

Bookish Discussions

Yash shares How Fan Art Affects My TBR Pile.
Iowa barber gives haircuts to children in exchange for them reading stories to him
Mark lists 5 Things Dystopias Get Wrong About Dictatorships.
Catherine wrote an article on What I Learned Sending My Novel Out Under a Male Name.
Kelley designed another Tarot of YA Lit: 2. The High Priestess.
Abby explores The Psychology of Fandom: Why We Get Attached to Fictional Characters.
Christina wonders about TRANSLATED AND FOREIGN EDITIONS OF BOOKS, LANGUAGES, AND YA.
Jamie talks about Perception, Reality & Our Super Reader Community.


Specific Authors/Books

Amy rants about Casual Sexism in Fantasy & The Storyspinner by Becky Wallace.
Emily says that James Potter Didn’t Change So That Lily Evans Would Marry Him.
Cait asks WHY DO WE CRITICISE AUTHORS FOR “WRITING TO MAKE MONEY”? (As a musician, can I just say...YES. YES TO ALL OF THAT)
Heather went to the Jane Austen Center And The Fashion Museum (and I am so jealous!)
TAMORA PIERCE IS DOING A REDDIT AMA. I REPEAT: TAMORA PIERCE. REDDIT. AMA. September 22. Save the date!
Amy talks about Why We Need More Girls Like Rose Hathaway. (Yes!! So much yes!)
Theresa talks about why Clive Barker is amazing, influential, and just all around incredible.


Bookish Fun Stuff

18 “Game Of Thrones” Moments Improved By “Monty Python And The Holy Grail” Quotes - These are PRICELESS.  I'm torn between #16 and #18 being my favourites haha!
La La talks about her Tell Me Tuesday feature (which you should all do because it is fun!)
There's a Gentleman Bastards readalong going on (in case you wanted to join in!).  I've been crazy busy so haven't been able to reread the series as I'd planned, but I've enjoyed the posts analyzing what's going on, as well as fun ones like Kritika's favourite quotes so far! (Edit: I think it might be over now actually...this is what happens when I get behind on sharing posts!)
Gillian wrote up another YA Sorting Hat: Book Boyfriends Part II.

Nonbookish

Amanda Palmer shares her concerns as an artist and soon-to-be mother in No, I Am Not Crowdfunding This Baby.
Stephen Colbert outlines Why He Thinks Women Should Be in Charge of Everything.
Jeff says No, It's Not Your Opinion. You're Just Wrong.
Sarah and Nicole posted a guide on How To Tell If You Are In A Korean Drama. (HAHAHAHA.  But...yeah...it's pretty on point.)
Daniel writes an expose: People who should be released from jail are dying there instead.
Sara talks about Villain Soundtracks.

Mari Ness analyzes The Last of the Classic Disney Greats: Sleeping Beauty in a way I never would have thought of on my own, and it's very interesting.