March Mini Reviews: In which Elizabeth read...practically nothing

I'm starting to post these regularly enough that I feel like should make a banner or something.  But in the meantime, how about we celebrate the statement "I'm starting to post these regularly"!  I mean when was the last time I could say that?   (To be fair, posting once a month for all of three months is hardly a ringing endorsement of my ability to post regularly haha)  This will also be a...rather shorter list than my previous months.  I only write the mini-reviews of books I haven't read before, and as March was a rather emotionally fraught month I mentioned that basically the only reading I've accomplished was rereading (and even that I've done little of. Apparently emotions get in the way of being able to focus on books. Who knew?) So the list is short this month, alas.

Lord of Shadows (The Dark Artifices #2) - Cassandra Clare

Rating: 5 stars

I officially don't care about how I felt about her first series - I am officially a hardcore Shadowhunter fangirl. CASSIE CLARE OWNS MY SOUL.  I am there for all of her books.  Her first series was...well her first series.  The fact that every series and collection of short stories is better than her last is a sign of being a good writer (incidentally, how I feel about Maggie Stiefvater as well).  If you haven't read any of Cassandra Clare's books or even if you tried her first series and it wasn't for you, I highly recommend trying this series!

The Bone Doll's Twin (Tamír Triad #1) by Lyn Flewelline

Rating: 5 stars

This somehow manages to take a tired hero/savior trope and make it feel completely fresh. It's got really interesting world building and Flewelline manages to pack in so much of it with showing not telling or infodumping which can be really challenging to do given how in depth the world building gets here.  It also has a really cool character set up that I won't spoil, but color me intrigued and invested.  I'll definitely be trying to get my hands on book two!

The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul (Dirk Gently #2) by Douglas Adams



Rating: 3.5

 Sadly, I think this one suffered because I had to keep starting and stopping the book and I never tend to enjoy books as much as they deserve when that happens.  That being said, for some completely unknown reason I was expecting a little more continuity from the first book (again...no idea why I would expect that. It's not like Douglas Adams showed much in the way of continuity with Hitchhiker's Guide!).  I'm a little sad now...I've officially read all of Douglas Adams' novels.  Nothing will ever top Hitchhiker's for me, but I might try this series again and see if I have better luck if I read it in one sitting.

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Loved but Will Never Re-Read

Hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl

This week's topic has some obvious choices, despite the fact that it is otherwise a challenging topic for me. I am a notorious rereader - probably 30% of what I read yearly are rereads.  If I don't reread something I like a lot, it's probably because I don't feel like I'd gain anything from a reread, or I just don't feel like I have enough of an emotional connection to the characters to warrant a reread. I definitely don't have ten books I can think of that fit said reasons, but I do have enough that immediately came to mind that I decided to go ahead and do this week's topic.  With no further ado here's the list:

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

 

This one was the most immediately obvious choice for this topic.  I had not expected to love this book as much as I did at all - and certainly wasn't expecting the emotional impact it gave.  After all, it tells you in the very first chapter all the characters that die.  I WAS PREPARED.  (Or so I mistakenly thought).  I ended up really loving the style of writing and I ugly cried so hard through the last few chapters of the book I could barely read the words at all.  I'm talking Harry Potter Deathly Hallows level of ugly crying.  

Going Bovine by Libba Bray

 

Speaking of Harry Potter 7 levels of crying and immediately obvious choices for this topic....  (Guys you should seriously search how often I mentioned this book on the blog for like two years after reading it, it affected me that much).  Going Bovine is another book that just...destroyed me.  Not just emotionally either - it did things to my brain that surprised me.  I was certain, certain I tell you that I knew the ending was going to go, and then Libba Bray goes and throws in this completely unexpected third way of ending things and....needless to say I spent the last 20 minutes of the audiobook sobbing so hard I couldn't see the road while driving.  (Luckily it was rush hour traffic so it wasn't like my car was moving anyway. No one was harmed in the process of listening to this book!)

The Knife of Never Letting Go (Chaos Walking #1) by Patrick Ness

  Are you starting to sense a theme here? I can't tell you much about this because of spoilers, but needless to say there is a SCENE in this book that anyone who has read it will immediately know will understand why it makes this list.




UnWholly (UnWind #2) by Neal Shusterman







Speaking of SCENES (although that's the first book, but still).  The series as a whole is really great, none of the rest of the books ever reach the full impact that the first book does.  And since it was originally written as a standalone I sort of prefer to think of it that way.  I'll read the first book again for sure (I literally buy any copy I find of it in thrift stores so I can send it to people to read because I'm THAT PERSON about UnWind), but the rest of the series I probably won't make an effort to get to again.




All These Things I've Done (Birthright #1) by Gabrielle Zevin



On the flip side, I loved everything about this whole series.  (I may have gone through a...mild obsession)  Honestly...I'm a little afraid if I ever reread these that I won't love them quite as much as I did the first time around.  (And I really, really loved this series!).  Although rereading my posts on the series...it is tempting....




Misery by Stephen King



Ok, this one technically doesn't qualify because I DEFINITELY didn't love it.  But it deserves mentioning, because it is clearly masterfully written....and also put me off an entire genre of books.  Needless to say, I will NOT be rereading this one!


What was on your list?  Leave me a link below!

A Day in the Life #53 In which Elizabeth is a bit vulnerable

So....I've been a little bit quiet around the blogosphere lately (which to be fair is not unusual these days).  In the midst of all the teaching drama I posted about last time I was dealing with some personal drama as well that I wasn't ready to post about at the time.  So.  Some of you know that for the past almost ten years I've been dating Sejoon.  Well, a few weeks ago we decided to end things.  I'm not really going to talk much about it in detail, but it was a good decision for both of us and I think we called it at the right moment so it ended on a good note. 

On the upside, entering the dating world has not been nearly as terrifying as I'd thought for all these years, and I'm actually having a lot of fun with it.  Not that I'm ready to settle down by any means, but at least I know I'm capable of meeting new people and it not being terrible.  And I'm used to being alone since he traveled so long this year so I'm more used to spending time alone than the average person at the end of a breakup.  It's been pretty up and down for me, but most days I'm happy.

The stress has definitely meant I've fallen back on rereading books rather than reading new books for the most part (although I did buy Children of Blood and Bone. I mean have you seen the front cover?? IRRESISTABLE)  Juliet Marillier's Sevenwater series is one of my go tos and has been getting me through the last couple weeks.  If you haven't read any of her books, Marillier has really beautiful writing and Daughter of the Forest is a wonderful place to start.



Dramafever is no longer on Playstation anymore (WHYYYYY. This would have been the one time I actually have time to watch Kdramas!!!), so in the meantime here's what I've been catching up on:

Parks and Rec - I mean, let's be real.  I never seem to put this show down for more than a couple of months it is my ULTIMATE form of comfort.  I always start on Season 2 episode 23 because what's the point in watching the show pre-Ben Wyatt?

Velvet - I've mentioned the show before, but I am soooo slow at watching subtitled things. (That are not K-dramas because I can't STOP watching those).  This show is beautiful, but I do tend to get stressed out when there's too much romantic drama. Which is....basically most of the show other than fashionable dresses...hence me still watching this show a year later haha.

Queer Eye - I do not want to know any secret behind the scenes terribleness about this show ever because I LOVE IT SO MUCH.  I cry every episode, it's so freaking inspiring and beautiful and if you are not watching this, you NEED TO.   I'd say this was a guilty pleasure but I a unashamed of how much I adore this series.

Longmire - Ohhhh this last season is so good.  And the soundtrack is so on point! I haven't finished yet, but I must be at least 2/3 of the way through now and there hasn't been a dud episode yet.  I am going to miss these characters so much when this is all over.



Top three songs I can't stop listening to:



There's also a "flipped" version of this that sounds more like Broken Bells and I freaking love them both.


I know this is old, but I went on a big nostalgia kick and I hadn't heard the acoustic version before. I feel like most singers in this genre don't fare well on acoustic versions, but Brent Smith has great vocals.


This is from the first episode of season 6 from Longmire and I am obsessed.


Bookish links:

Blogger stuff
Veronika shares stuff that positively pisses her off in books.
Stacee transcribed a book event led by Amie Kauffman and Jay Kristoff.
Kelly Lagor discusses science fiction and science: Jules Verne and Charles Darwin.
Christina talks about sharing pop culture.
Heather talks about when reading makes you uncomfortable: rape.
Annemieke shares how she unhauls books.


Author stuff
Mari Ness talks about Death as a godfather in fairy tales.
Elizabeth Bear shares her formative SFF (forgotten classics of the 70's and 80's).
Chris lists 5 things every fantasy writer can learn from Earthsea.
Michelle Obama is releasing a memoir!




THIS IS EVERYTHING.