Booking Through Thursday - Meme of Reading Questions

I've been pondering over the last few days what to actually do for my 100th post but frankly my brain was dishing up peanuts so I reckon it'll be miles easier just to do a normal post for now and have a good chatty post at another time :P

This week's Booking Through Thursday question is not so much *one* question but a whole ruck of them. Oh how I love meme's like this.

1. Favorite childhood book?
Erm I'm not sure actually, but I reckon the 1st Harry Potter book was a fav when I was 8

2. What are you reading right now?
I'm currently reading the Alchemist's Daughter by Katherine McMahon

3. What books do you have on request at the library?
None, I don't tend to request books

4. Bad book habit?
I keep buying more books than I have the time to read? :P

5. What do you currently have checked out at the library?
Nothing at this present moment but I'm hoping to check out the Ask and the Answer by Patrick Ness later

6. Do you have an e-reader?
nope and I don't plan on getting one

7. Do you prefer to read one book at a time, or several at once?
I tend to read one at a time but occasionally I'll read bits of several

8. Have your reading habits changed since starting a blog?
I reckon they've changed slightly, I think I'm more critical of the books I read but nothing major

9. Least favorite book you read this year (so far?)
Possibly Fallen by Lauren Kate, it was just meh and I'm not all that bothered about Torment

10. Favorite book you’ve read this year?
So far, The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness - unbelievably amazing

11. How often do you read out of your comfort zone?
Not very often, I like sticking with what I know I like

12. What is your reading comfort zone?
YA fiction, Paranormal, Fantasy, and Historical Fiction

13. Can you read on the bus?
Probably I can read in the car but I've never properly tried on a bus

14. Favorite place to read?
In bed mostly or somewhere comfy

15. What is your policy on book lending?
Only trusted individuals may borrow my books, any damage and I lynch ya! :P

16. Do you ever dog-ear books?
*le gasp* Heaven forbid!!

17. Do you ever write in the margins of your books?
*faints* How can you suggest such a thing?!

18.  Not even with text books?
Only if they were my own textbooks

19. What is your favorite language to read in?
Well English although I should be able to read in French (but I'm not very good)

20. What makes you love a book?
It's a mixture of the story and the characters but I can forgive a mediocre plot if the characters are amazing

21. What will inspire you to recommend a book?
How late I stay up to finish it and my rating

22. Favorite genre?
Fantasy I guess

23. Genre you rarely read (but wish you did?)
Non-fiction, I really should read more actual history books cos I find it interesting

Favorite biography?
I've only read two biographies and neither were fantastic

25. Have you ever read a self-help book?
Yeah sort-of do writing books count?

26. Favorite cookbook?
I don't have one - I don't really like cooking although I do own cookbooks

27. Most inspirational book you’ve read this year (fiction or non-fiction)?
Erm I don't know if I'd call any of the books I've read "inspirational" *ponders*

28. Favorite reading snack?

I don't usually eat whilst reading and I don't really have a preference of snacks

29. Name a case in which hype ruined your reading experience.
Hmm I dunno I can't remember any specific book which I was disappointed with because of hype

30. How often do you agree with critics about a book?
Well if the majority of reviews I see of a book are positive I'm likely to enjoy it too

31. How do you feel about giving bad/negative reviews?
If I really didn't like a book I wouldn't review it on my blog, but kinda meh books I'll still review

32. If you could read in a foreign language, which language would you chose?
Well since I study French and Spanish I'd kinda like to be able to read well in both

33. Most intimidating book you’ve ever read?
The Count of Monte Cristo - that thing is *massive*! Although it's actually a pretty fast-paced read

34. Most intimidating book you’re too nervous to begin?
A Sweet Far Thing by Libba Bray - I've been putting it off cos it's a rather beefy-looking book

35. Favorite Poet?
I don't have one - I don't read poetry cos most of it just goes over my head

36. How many books do you usually have checked out of the library at any given time?
Usually no more than 3

37. How often have you returned book to the library unread?
I've done it at least 6 times when I just haven't got into the book

38. Favorite fictional character?
God that's too difficult I have loads!

39. Favorite fictional villain?
Argh again I can't choose!! (I'll do another post on this in the future maybe)

40. Books I’m most likely to bring on vacation?
Any I fancy taking really I'm not one for differentiating between "beach" books and normal ones

41. The longest I’ve gone without reading.
Probably no more than a week and a half?

42. Name a book that you could/would not finish.
Wuthering Heights , I got about 40 pages in and gave up. I may try again one day

43. What distracts you easily when you’re reading?
TV I cannot concentrate on a book if I'm in a room with a TV

44. Favorite film adaptation of a novel?
Hmm I'm rather wary of most film adaptations but I *adore* the Lord of the Rings films

45. Most disappointing film adaptation?
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - just too much was left out of that

46. The most money I’ve ever spent in the bookstore at one time?
I can't quite remember but I think I may have once spent £56 in one go two years ago

47. How often do you skim a book before reading it?
Not very often at all, I don't like to flick through at random in case I spot a spoiler

48. What would cause you to stop reading a book half-way through?
Erm falling asleep? 

49. Do you like to keep your books organized?
Heck yea, I'm an organisational freak

50. Do you prefer to keep books or give them away once you’ve read them?
Nah I'm a hoarder, and I will often re-read books at some point in the future

51. Are there any books you’ve been avoiding?
Probably although I can't remember precisely which books

52. Name a book that made you angry.
Catching Fire - that ending coupled with the fact that I had to wait almost a year to read Mockingjay made me rather tetchy :P

53. A book you didn’t expect to like but did?
Cracked up to be by Courtney Summers - Parker was a total bitch yet I really liked her

54. A book that you expected to like but didn’t?
The Summer I turned Pretty by Jenny Han - I expected to like it more than I actually did

55. Favorite guilt-free, pleasure reading?
Any of my Tamora Pierce books, I love reading her books when I want a great comfort re-read

So there you go folks, I've tried to keep my answers short to save y'all a ton of reading. At another time I'm gonna try and do some posts about my favourite male and female characters and my favourite villains so keep an eye out for those in the next few weeks.


This has taken me a good hour or two to answer but it's been fun, I always like these types of meme. I hope everyone is having a good Thursday and YAY for my 100th post!! *dances*
LadyV

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Book Review - The Forbidden Game

Happy Wednesday! Since I don't really do memes on Wednesday I'm gonna try and make sure I get a review up instead so there's at least *something* going on here for y'all to look at :)

I know I said I was reading just Dystopian fiction up until next Wednesday when *holy crap* Mockingjay is coming out but I read this book last Thursday and I wanted to review it before I forgot about it.

Title: The Forbidden Game
Author: L.J. Smith
Date: 12/8/2010 AM
Source: Bought
Description: It all started with a board game. But what was supposed to be an evening of friends, fun, and games, becomes a night of danger, drama, and obsessive love. Because when Jenny and her friends try to play the Game, it comes to life. Suddenly they are in a dark world where Julian, the gorgeous guy who sold Jenny the game, rules as Prince of the Shadows. Julian is in charge, making their darkest nightmares reality. And he will do anything to claim the beautiful Jenny as his prize. The Game is real, and these friends must play through - and the only way to win is to face their most secret fears. To lose the Game is to lose your life. And that is only the beginning... (Description from Amazon)


My Review: It's a vlog sorry and a tad non-sensical but I hope it's useful.


My Rating: 4 Stars out of 5


Another very enjoyable read from L.J. Smith and I'm really quite glad that they've reprinted all of her books cos she's someone I missed out on back in the 90's when they were originally published. Now the bloody publishers just need to get their act together and get Strange Fate released already!! Surely it can't still be unfinished?!?

Anyways have a great Wednesday y'all.
LadyV

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Teaser Tuesdays #11

Since I failed to do a post for this meme last week through my own laziness I'd thought I'd better redeem myself now although it is already the afternoon here so I'm kinda late lol.

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab you current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) teaser sentences from somewhere on that page.
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS!!
• Share the title and author too so other TT participants can add the book to their TBR lists if they like your teaser!

My Teaser

"Ok," I say. So I keep holding on, but I can't help feeling strange about the way Cinna has linked us together. It's not really fair to present us as a team and lock us into the arena to kill each other. " -Pg 86 of the Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

I started re-reading this last night and it's so good to be back in Panem, I love this series so much and Katniss is just a great heroine. I'm also firmly on Team Peeta :P

So what teasing bookish goodness have folks got this week?

LadyV

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Book Review - The Knife of Never Letting Go

Wow I've gone from doing hardly any reviews to churning out two in quick succession! I'm also hoping that I'll get up a joint review of Hunger Games and Catching Fire when I re-read those next week ahead of Mockingjay coming out *dances*.

This review is being entered into Presenting Lenore's dystopian contest for an awesome 6 book prize pack as part of her Dystopian August event.

Title: The Knife of Never Letting Go
Author: Patrick Ness
Date: 14/8/2010 AM
Source: Bought
Description: Todd Hewitt is the last boy in Prentisstown. 
But Prentisstown isn't like other towns. Everyone can hear everyone else's thoughts in a constant, overwhelming, never-ending Noise. There is no privacy. There are no secrets. 
Or are there? 
Just one month away from the birthday that will make him a man, Todd unexpectedly stumbles upon a spot of complete silence. 
Which is impossible. 
Prentisstown has been lying to him. 
And now he's going to have to run... 

My Review: 
Holy hell in a hand-basket! Now I'll be honest when I started this I had already been blown-away by the Maze Runner the night before but bloody hell I was not expecting to be quite as gobsmacked by the time I finished. I read this in a ridiculously short time and I have no clue how I did it - it took me less than 3 hours to devour this nearly 500 pg book and I frankly wished it had been longer because I was so invested in this world and it's characters that I would have gladly gone along with them for 800 pages or more!


Patrick Ness has created such a complex and vivid world full of mystery and secrets that we get to explore through Todd, the main character and narrator. All his life Todd thought he knew the truth about his mother's death and the situation in Prentisstown but one day he finds a spot of silence when it shouldn't exist and from then on everything he knew is thrown into doubt and his life's in danger because of it. The reader is pulled along on this adventure at break-neck speed as Todd runs from Prentisstown and after he meets Viola, the first girl he's ever seen, he realises that *she* is the silence he found and both of them are being hunted by the hoards of men from Prentisstown.


Todd as a narrator was wonderful albeit a tad naive and stubborn about his knowledge of the world. The book is actually written in his rather uneducated vernacular which takes a bit of getting used to (especially for a spelling nazi like me :P) but it just helps to make Todd feel so real that my "attenshun" wasn't going anywhere.


I also adored his dog Manchee, who through some strange occurrence of the New World can talk with a reasonable degree of intelligence (for a dog anyway). Manchee is the most loyal companion that any boy with no one else to talk to could ask for, sure he could a bit annoying with his doggy ADD as it were but he looked out for Todd and protected him when danger threatened. He was quite possibly the best dog ever to grace the pages of fiction *cuddles Manchee*.


Viola was a bit of an enigma since we don't find out a huge amount about her in this book except that her and her parents were the scouts for another settler ship coming from the Old World (it takes 64 years to travel the distance between the two planets). She proves herself to be a very capable and brave girl and after a slightly rocky start her and Todd become good friends. I'm quite looking forward to learning more about her in the second book.


Although this is a YA book there are several moments of quite distressing violence and I swear my heart broke a little half-way through (people who've read it will know exactly what I mean ). Ness's world is cruel one and Todd grows up a *lot* over the course of the story which makes me so proud of him. 


After the non-stop action of the flight from Prentisstown, the ending stops us dead in our tracks and oh my god do I need to read the Ask and the Answer like NOW! Getting a cliff hanger like that makes you very pissed about the fact that there's no 24hr bookshops for sequel emergencies of this nature. I will be getting my hands on a copy from the library tomorrow or I may just die.


Now I know there's been a lot of talk about this book recently and some people have been wondering whether they should read it or not. Simple answer really - OF COURSE YOU BLOODY SHOULD!! If you like dystopian fiction or even you don't you *need* to read this series. If you're not absolutely blown away by the awesomeness that is this book then I'm afraid there's something really wrong with you and I'll have to disown you. The characters are fabulous, the world is amazing and the plot is so gripping that it's driving me crazy thinking about what may happen next! What more could you ask of a book?


My Rating: 5 Stars out of 5!!!! (heck I'd give it 7)


Seriously read this book like now or I may have to force y'all and it won't be pretty :P


LadyV

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It's Monday What are you Reading (11)

Crikey where are all these Mondays disappearing to? It's only another 5 weeks until I go back to university and *that's* bloody strange! Ah well, let's get cracking with this week's post shall we?

It's Monday What are you Reading? Is a weekly bookish meme where we get together to share what books we've read in the past week, what books we're currently reading and what new books we're planning on reading in the coming week along with any reviews or interesting posts. It's hosted by Sheila @One Person's Journey through a World of Books 

Books I read Last Week

The Poison Throne by Celine Kiernan

Two-Way Street by Lauren Barnholdt (Review coming.. eventually)

The Forbidden Game by L.J. Smith (Review coming on Wednesday)

The Maze Runner by James Dashner (Review Here)

The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness (Review Here)

Book I Reviewed Last Week

By Midnight by Mia James (Review here)

Books I'm Currently Reading

I'm still going with the Alchemist's Daughter but I'm concentrating on my Dystopia books at the moment so I read bits when I can.

Books I'm Planning to Read this Week

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins - I'll be re-reading this and Catching Fire to remind myself what's going on before the awesomeness continues in Mockingjay. 

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

Besides those two I'm now quite sure just yet what I'm gonna be reading this week but those are the definite fixtures. 

So that's my week in Reading, What are you reading this Monday?

LadyV

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In My Mailbox #17 The one before I'm Home Alone

Morning All! What's slightly horrifying to me is that I may already be awake when this posts (I tend to schedule posts for 7am). My parents and sister are off to Florida for three weeks tomorrow and by some insane decree *I* have been ordered to be conscious and lucid at 6:30AM!! on a Sunday!?!? to see them off to the airport. I'm fairly sure I can at least manage to be vertical but there's no way in hell that I'll make any sense at such a ridiculous hour.
Why am I not going as well you ask? Simple, the flights cost too damn much and I've already had a holiday in the Sun this summer. I would love to go since I've not been for nearly 2 years and I miss the immense rollercoasters and the huge bookstores :P but alas I cannot - perhaps next year before I embark on my year abroad in France and Spain. So I have the house all to myself for three weeks Yay me!! (god I should never say that again)

Anyways on with business. As always In My Mailbox is a weekly bookish meme hosted by Kristi @The Story Siren and inspired by Alea of Pop Culture Junkie where we all get together to share what books we've acquired during the week.

Un Vlog pour vous


Books Mentioned in Vlog
Forest Born by Shannon Hale 
The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness (because I read it last night, I bought it back in Feb)
The Dark Divine by Bree Despain (Not shown because I don't have it yet, but I will hopefully soon)

So that's all I've had this week and I've been given strict instructions by my lovely, yet tyrannical sister NOT to buy more than 7 books with my own money while they're away so the next few weeks of IMM could be pretty sparse unless I get books given to me cos they don't count into the 7 book limit :P. However luck be willing my marvellous sister will be hunting out 15 books that I really, really want whilst in Florida so when she comes back I'll have a MASSIVE IMM to show y'all and it'll be jam-packed with awesome and I may not be able to talk for excitement *can't wait!*

What did y'all get this week in *your* mailboxes?
LadyV

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Book Review - The Maze Runner

As part of the lead-up to the release of Mockingjay *omfg* on the 25th of August I'm reading primarily dystopian novels until then and I will do best to get the reviews up in a timely fashion as I'm planning on entering the contest running on Presenting Lenore where you can win 6 dystopia novels by linking your reviews (of dystopia books duh) on the post I've linked to above. She's also got loads of other stuff going on as part of her Dystopian August Event including reviews, interviews and reader insight into what makes dystopia such a popular genre.

Title: The Maze Runner
Author: James Dashner
Date: 13/8/2010
Source: Bought
Description: When Thomas wakes up in the lift, the only thing he can remember is his first name. His memory is blank. But he’s not alone. When the lift’s doors open, Thomas finds himself surrounded by kids who welcome him to the Glade—a large, open expanse surrounded by stone walls.
Just like Thomas, the Gladers don’t know why or how they got to the Glade. All they know is that every morning the stone doors to the maze that surrounds them have opened. Every night they’ve closed tight. And every 30 days a new boy has been delivered in the lift.
Thomas was expected. But the next day, a girl is sent up—the first girl to ever arrive in the Glade. And more surprising yet is the message she delivers. 
Thomas might be more important than he could ever guess. If only he could unlock the dark secrets buried within his mind. (Description from Amazon.com)

My Review:

Well dang, where do I begin with this? When I finished this in the early hours of Friday morning I was instantaneously craving the sequel - The Scorch Trials - but it's not out in the US until October!! *dies* so I'll have to just settle with squeeing about it to you lovely folk.

The book starts off in a box, and when the protagonist Thomas gets yanked out of the box we're all just as lost and bewildered as he is. We get thrown into this new and strange world with no chance to catch our breath or find our bearings. We have new characters and weird slang thrown at us before we even know where the shuck we are (hehe :P). Although it was a little hard to take in all at once I rather liked the Glader terms once I deciphered what they meant - rather like A Clockwork Orange where there's no translation of the  Nadsat you just gotta figure it out from context - Thomas gets a little help from Chuck but most of it is fairly obvious after a while. 

Dashner's writing style is pretty plain and to-the-point which is great for this type of book and after Thomas arrives in the Glade we very quickly get dragged into the action and it's almost non-stop until the end. The descriptions we do get of the Maze, the Glade and the Grievers are fab  - I could really imagine the scale of the whole complex and although the visual description of the horrific Grievers is kinda hard to picture, the sounds it makes as it moves are pretty darn terrifying. 


Admittedly Thomas doesn't have much of a personality besides his general heroic qualities but when you have no memories of your life before getting dumped in the Glade I suppose it's kinda hard to be a fully-rounded person. I'm hoping we find out in the second book why him and Teresa are special like they are cos it seems a wee bit convenient.


The character I adored was Chuck, lovely cuddly Chuck. He was the first semi-friendly person we meet when so far all the reply Thomas got to his multitude of questions was the equivalent of "shut your shucking face, shank!". I don't know about Thomas but *I* was bloody frustrated with no one answering his questions - there's so much we don't know about the Glade, the Maze and the point of it all but NO ONE will tell us anything! ARGH! Chuck, however gives us some insight into what the fandazzle is going on which is comforting - slightly. He's a loyal friend and is part brother and part mother figure to Thomas by looking after him during his first few days when the other Gladers are suspicious of him. Chuck Rocked. 


The whole concept of the maze, changing every night and even after two years no exit ever appearing is fantastic as a test of human resilience - that these kids have spent so long running through the maze searching all corridors for even a hint of a way out is so inspiring. Many less determined people would have given up months ago once it became apparent that the maze was impossible to solve.


Although the characterisation was limited in this first book I'm hopeful that there'll be improvement on this aspect in the next books. The action was very fast paced and I raced through this in a couple of hours although it was only a shortish book (370 pages) but there's a lot packed into it - some questions are answered but a *lot* more are raised especially at the end of the book which has me dying to know what's gonna happen next. 


When I finished this I originally gave it 5 stars but last night after finishing The Knife of Never Letting Go I felt I needed to differentiate slightly between the two cos TKoNLG was better imho and it deserves 5 stars. But Jess (Jess Hearts Books) reckons I should keep my original rating so as a compromise I'll rate it thus;


My Rating: 4.75 Stars out of 5


Amazing read but not quite as mind-blowing as the Knife of Never Letting Go - which I'll be reviewing very soon so keep an eye out for that on either Monday or Tuesday.

LadyV 

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