October Wrap Up? + some of November

Published on by Aria1 Comment

I have been so busy, and I’ve had to take a small, tiny, almost TWO WEEK BREAK from posting, but I am back!!!!

I didn’t really know what to call this post, so, this will have to work

My bat mitzvah was SATURDAY!!! and I have a lot of family visiting, so this has been the most busy (and amazing and awesome) weekend ever!!! I am extremely happy that it is over, and it was an amazing experience, but now I will have so much more time for blogging, which makes me very happy!!!

I am going to make this a very long post to catch up with every thing I’ve missed writing, and I will start with a review with my most recent favorite series: THE MOTHER DAUGHTER BOOK CLUB!

The Mother Daughter Book Club:

This series is about… a mother daughter book club. A book club doesn’t seem like a very interesting basis for an entire series, but it actually ended up being AMAZING!!!

The first book starts when the girls are in 6th grade. The moms start talking after yoga class, and decide to start the club. The book follows four very different girls: Cassidy, who has just moved to Concord after the death of her father is very different from her ex-supermodel mother, who doesn’t want her to play hockey, worried she’ll get hurt, while hockey is the only thing Cassidy wants to do. Jess and Emma are best friends. Emma loves to read and write, and was very close to Megan in elementary school, but now Megan is part of the ‘Fab Four’, a group that is not very nice to Emma or Jess. Jess’s family owns Half Moon farm, but her mother left to star on a soap opera, and isn’t around. Jess loves animals, but is teased about it, getting called Goat Girl.

The mother daughter book club starts as something that none of the girls are very excited about, but they end up having many amazing adventures. In a later book, *spoiler alert* they get to go visit their pen pals in WYOMING!!! They go on so many cool adventures and are so close, its so fun to read!

I was so sad when I finished the 7th book, but I already want to reread all of them!!! I totally suggest this series if you’re fans of The Penderwicks, which is also a super amazing series about four sisters, but I’m going to move on now…

Top Two Tuesday: Books That looked so creepy I didn’t read them

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is unknown-1.png

I’m really behind right now, but this prompt seemed really fun, so I thought that even if it was only two books, I should still do it. Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish and is now hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. How it works is each week there’s a topic, and you make lists of books that fit that topic! This week’s topic a halloween freebie, so I decided to go with books that have looked so creepy I didn’t read them.

1 Frozen Charlotte, by Alex Bell

A bunch of my friends read this, but it looked super creepy, and because I don’t like creepy books, I decided not to read it.

2 Doll Bones, by Holly Black

This one looked really good, but again, it just seemed to creepy for me!

I decided not to do last weeks, but this next one looks fun…

Even though I haven’t posted that much in the last two weeks, I read a lot of books in the past month, and I’ll do my best to list as many as I can…

  • The Mother Daughter Book Club, by Heather Vogel Frederick (all seven!) is my favorite series/book I’ve read all month. My review is in this post as well, but I’m going to say it again: Heather Vogel Frederick is an amazing author, and these books are so good!!!!

So I decided that it is going to be too much work to list all of the books, so here are the covers. This is (I think) most of the books I read, but some might have been from September, and I’m probably leaving a few out…

I am really behind on reviews though, so my goal for November is that I’m going to try to write at least a paragraph on every book I read. I’ll see how that works…

Last of all, my review for The School for Good and Evil, by Soman Chainani

Honestly, I wasn’t very excited about this book. I’m not exactly a fan of ‘fairy tale endings’. I mean come on… the princess is does something really dumb (ex. gives away her voice, takes a poison apple from a stranger) and a prince comes along and is like ‘oh that girl is pretty. I should kiss her. Oh! I saved her life. Let’s get married!’ Fairy tales don’t often stray much off that path. Even when there’s no prince, the girl is usually pretty stupid. (ex. ‘Oh look! It’s a wolf! I should talk to that wolf! I will do all the things my mother warned me not to do over and over! I can’t tell my grandma apart from a wolf!’ and so on…)

The School for Good and Evil surprised me. The book is about two girls, Sophie and Agatha. They are from the village Gavaldon. They know that every year, the nicest and the meanest children are kidnapped and taken away to star in fairy tales. Unlike most kids, they want to go. However, the school turned out to be very different than they’d imagined.

This book has so many amazing plot twists, and I definitely suggest it. The one thing the two girls show is that you don’t need any princes in a happily ever after. This is an OBOB book (my post on OBOB is coming later!) so I’m not reading the rest of the series YET, but I really want to, and I definitely will!

Soooo, that ends my everything post, and I’ll be writing much much more, so happy writing, and…

Happy Reading!

WWW Wednesday

Published on by Aria
This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is unknown-3.jpeg

WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by  Sam @ Taking On A World of Words. How it works is I answer 3 questions:

  • What are you currently reading?
  • What did you recently finish reading?
  • What do you think you’ll read next?

What are you currently reading?

I am currently reading Frogkisser, by Garth Nix, The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak and listening to one of the 39 clues books Mission Hindenburg, by C Alexandre London.

What did you recently finish reading?

I recently finished reading The Teachers Funeral, by Richard Peck. I’ve read this book before, and Richard Peck is one of my favorite authors. His books are all really funny.

What do you think you’ll read next?

Next, I want to read the rest of the mother daughter book club, which I have wanted to finish for a while now, but haven’t gotten around to. I also want to rererereread Stella by Starlight, by Sharon M Draper, which is one of my favorite books!

That’s it for today, so happy reading, and have a happy Halloween!

Let’s Talk Bookish: Are TBR’s necessary to be considered a book blogger, or reader?

Published on by Aria10 Comments

Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly meme hosted by Rukky @ Eternity Books discussing a bookish topic each Friday. This is my first time doing it, and I’m really excited. This week’s topic is Are TBR’s (to be reads) necessary to be considered a book blogger, or reader?

I don’t actually think that TBRs are necessary, because I don’t have a TBR: I don’t have a list of the books I want to read next: I just go to the library, pick out a bunch of books that look good, and read them.

I don’t think that you really need to do anything to be a reader other than read, and anything other than blogging to be a blogger, but I can see how TBRs can be a helpful way to organize what books you want to read next. It could also feel really satisfying to check books off your TBR.

For me though, I don’t really like structuring how I read. I just read books that look good, and I’ll sometimes have a short list of 2 or 3 books in my head that I know I want to read, I just don’t have a really long list.

I think that having a TBR really depends on the person, and can be helpful and fun, but that it definitely is not necessary to be considered a book blogger or reader.

What do you think? Do you have a TBR? Chat with me in the comments below.

Happy reading!

WWW Wednesday

Published on by Aria2 Comments

WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by  Sam @ Taking On A World of Words. How it works is I answer 3 questions:

  • What are you currently reading?
  • What did you recently finish reading?
  • What do you think you’ll read next?

What are you currently reading?

I am currently reading Port Chicago 50, by Steve Sheinkin

What did you recently finish reading?

I just finished reading The Only Road, by Alexandra Diaz

What do you think you’ll read next?

Next, I think I’m going to finish the mother daughter book club series.

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I’d Give Different Titles To

Published on by Aria

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish and is now hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. How it works is each week there’s a topic, and you make lists of books that fit that topic! This week’s topic is book titles I’d give different titles to, and the titles I’d use instead.

This one has been a little harder for me, because I generally think that the books I read have titles that fit perfectly with the book, so I’ll try to come up with as many as I can.

1 The Penderwicks at Last, by Jeanne Birdsall

The Penderwicks at Last is such a sad title. The Penderwicks is one of my favorite series, so that title was kind of sad. I know that it’s the last book in the series, but the Penderwick sisters still have the rest of their lives, right? I don’t know what other title I use though.

2 Paper Chains, by Elaine Vickers

This book is kind of about paper chains, but not enough to have that be the title. I’m not sure what other title I’d do, but probably not that.

3 The Blackthorn Key, by Kevin Sands

I really like this book, but I don’t think that the title fits very well. The book is about Christopher Rowe, Benedict Blackthorn, a great apothecary’s, apprentice, and his search for clues. It is not based around one specific key, so I would probably call it something like The Blackthorn clue, or The Blackthorn Cipher.

I can’t really think of any other books that I would change the title to. I looked through my bookshelf, and I think that most book titles fit pretty well with the plot, which makes sense because the author has most likely put a lot of thought into it. Happy reading!

The Only Road, by Alexandra Diaz

Published on by Aria1 Comment

The Only Road, by Alexandra Diaz is about a twelve year old boy named Jamie and his cousin Angela, and their journey through Mexico to get to the United States.

The Guatemalan village where they live is controlled by a violent gang called the Alphas. Anyone who opposes them and refuses to join will be hurt or killed. That is what happens to Miguel, Jamies cousin. He is violently murdered because he refuses to join the Alphas. When Miguel is killed, Jamie knows that he is next. He could never join the gang that killed his cousin, but not doing so would mean certain death, so he and his cousin Angela flee the village.

Jamie and Angela are traveling through Mexico to get to the United States, and to go live with Jamie’s much older brother, Tomas, who is working in New Mexico. Their journey is dangerous, and although they have money sewn into their clothes, they face many dangers, and are taken advantage of.

However, they do make friends along the way, and come across people who are very kind and helpful to them.

The Only Road is an amazing book. The plot is really good, and the story is really well written. Based on true events, Alexandra Diaz follows Jamie and Angela’s treacherous, and life changing journey through Mexico all the way, and I definitely recommend this book to anyone interested in learning about what the journey to get to the United States from Central America to the United States can be like. Reading this book made me realize how lucky I am to be in the United States, and how privileged I am to have the options that I have.

I hope you consider looking at The Only Road, and happy reading!

Elevenses; ‘the game of morning tea’

Published on by Aria

I know that this is a book blog, and Elevenses is a game, but it was really fun, and I felt like I should review it. It’s been really rainy, in Eugene, and playing it made me want to curl up with a book and drink a cup of tea.

In Elevenses, the goal is to serve the best, most perfect morning tea. You have 11 cards, and they each have a value and a place. You win when you reach the decided number of sugar cubes, (it could be 5, 10…) which are the little white cubes, and you multiple rounds until one player reaches that.

The art on the cards is really funny, and the whole idea it great.

I really liked playing this game, and even though its not a book, its still fun to review!

WWW Wednesday

Published on by Aria

WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by  Sam @ Taking On A World of Words. How it works is I answer 3 questions:

  • What are you currently reading?
  • What did you recently finish reading?
  • What do you think you’ll read next?

1 What are you currently reading?

I am currently reading The Blackthorn Key, by Kevin Sands which is really good, and Pies and Prejudice, by Heather Vogel Frederick. I am currently listening to Nowhere to Run, by Jude Watson, which is part of Unstoppable, the third 39 clues series.

2 What did you recently finish reading?

I recently finished reading, The Shadow Cipher, by Laura Ruby, and Dear Pen Pal, by Heather Vogel Frederick, which is the 3rd book in the mother-daughter book club series.

3 What do you think you’ll read next?

Next, I think I’ll read Home for the Holidays, the next in the mother daughter book club book. I also want to read The First Rule of Punk, by Celia C. Pérez.

Top Ten Tuesday: Extraordinary Book Titles

Published on by Aria


Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish and is now hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. How it works is each week there’s a topic, and you make lists of books that fit that topic!

1 The Girl Who Drank the Moon, by Kelly Barnhill

2 Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, by Judi Barrett

3 And to think that I saw it on Mulberry Street, by Dr Seuss

4Don’t Let the Pigeon drive the Bus, by Mo Willems

5 Blubber, by Judy Blume

6 Shouting at the Rain, by Lynda Mullaly Hunt

7 A Mango-Shaped Space, by Wendy Mass

8 Fish in a Tree, by Linda Mullaly Hunt

9 Pippi Longstocking, by Astrid Lindgren

10:

From the mixed up Files of Mrs. Basil E Frankweiler, by E. L. Konigsburg

WWW Wednesday

Published on by Aria

WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by  Sam @ Taking On A World of Words. How it works is I answer 3 questions:

  • What are you currently reading?
  • What did you recently finish reading?
  • What do you think you’ll read next?

1 What are you currently reading?

I am currently reading York: The Shadow Cipher, by Laura Ruby. I’ve read it one time before this and I really liked it, but I don’t remember all of the plot, so I’m excited to read it again.

2 What did you recently finish reading?

I recently finished reading the first mother-daughter book club book, The Mother Daughter Book Club, by Heather Vogel Frederick. I still need to get the second one from the library, but I want to finish the series.

I also just finished listening to the 2nd Cahills vs Vespers. I read the whole series, but I’m now listening to the audio stories.

I know I’ve read more, but I can’t think of any others at the moment, so I’ll leave it at that.

3 What do you think you’ll read next?

I think that next I’m going to read the rest of the mother-daughter book club series, but I don’t know what else.

I hope that you all have a great Wednesday, and read lots of good books!