You might remember that I was participating a challenge aka BookTube-A-Thon whereupon I was supposed to read seven books in seven days. Did I succeed?

Maybe... maybe not o.O.

So, from my BookTube-A-Thon List:

1. Venetia by Georgette Heyer || Goodreads

Did I finish this? Well, I DNFed at 35%.

This is written in a style similar to how Jane Austen writes, but for me it didn't have the same social satire element. Similarly, the author was clearly poking fun at the other two romantic interests Venetia has - the same way Austen shows you that Mr. Collins in Pride & Prejudice is an absurd character - but in a romance novel, I want to know more about the main character's relationship. Not these misogynistic douches. And instead of the hate turned love of Pride and Prejudice, the main character falls into an easy friendship with the main romantic interest and... there's not much tension. I read a lot of Regency and historical romance novels. This shows me how much things have changed in the writing styles and general outlook. This book, everything has been pretty chaste and doesn't have the same tension of other Regency romances (published nowadays) since the styles are so different. So essentially this makes me think: this book is not for me. There's nothing bad about it, but my expectations have been changed based off what I've read. If I'm reading a Jane Austen like style, I want more of her work; if I'm reading a Regency romance, I want something more similar to what I've already read. The amount of literary references though is really impressive.

If you want a Jane Austen styled romance, Georgette Heyer is your author.

2. Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews || Goodreads

Did I finish this? YES!

A funny, frank book about death (though if you get easily offended, perhaps this book's humor is not for you). Wasn't sure that a comedic book about death was possible, and for so long the MC tells you that the book is about nothing, but then there's the gut punch and realizations and oooh, I want to see this movie. Also, I usually dislike when the main characters break the "fourth wall" and essentially tell you that they're writing the book you're reading because it makes me too aware that I'm reading the book and gets me all analytical and bleh. But I actually really enjoyed how Jesse Andrews used that technique in this book.

The Fault in Our Stars is a pretty comparison title in terms of plot, but the voice in Me and Earl and The Dying Girl is very distinctive, and I would suggest you read an excerpt if you're uncertain.

3. Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne || Goodreads

Did I finish this? YES!

I have conflicting thoughts about this.

First: cool concept. I mean, c'mon, who doesn't want to have enough money to travel around the world? And traveling around the world in 80 days or less! Talk about temporal tension in the story... I like the idea of a cool, reserved Englishman who puts this bet about being able to travel around the world in a limited time frame just for honor's sake. I like the writing style. And I like the epic adventure aspect of the book.

This is sort of a book I would fully like if I could dissociate it from its... context. All the racism (greedy Americans, pillaging Sioux, Indians who are in the middle of performing human sacrifice, etc.), the sexism (the only female character of note gets very few lines and is essentially the damsel in distress who'd been rescued by the cool, reserved Englishman and now felt "gratitude" (or more) to him), the colonial superiority (this review discusses that). If I could forget all that existed, maybe I'd have liked this more.

I would SO be down for a retelling, though, that wasn't racist/sexist/colonially superior.

4. Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon || Goodreads

Did I finish this? YES!

Maddy and Olly are so cute together. This is a book written with heart and written in an easy to read style. A page-turner of adorable proportions; and I particularly loved how the illustrations and other formats (e.g. vignettes, the short reviews since Maddy has a book review tumblr) were incorporated. In the above video, I discussed / showed one of the illustrations of Maddy in outer space while Olly was on Earth. Everything, everything is going to be a big fall title. It already has 2,000+ ratings on Goodreads. What are you waiting for?

And...

5. The Golden Specific by S.E. Grove || Goodreads

6.  More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera || Goodreads

7.  Court of Fives by Kate Elliott || Goodreads or The Accident Season by Moira Fowley-Doyle || Goodreads

Did I finish these? Nope!

My excuse?

 

I was annotating a copy of A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas as a gift for a friend's birthday. That, I finished. So that was a reread + annotation. REALLY THAT SHOULD COUNT AS TWO BOOKS. Do you know how LONG it takes to annotate a book? But annotated books are so much fun to read! It's like your friend is right beside you as you're reading. It reminds me of when I was reading the seventh Harry Potter book with my friend in our hotel lobby, and she was about twenty pages behind me, and so whenever she made a noise, I was like did you get to X part yet? Oh, yeah, Fred's joke was so great.

ANYWAY, even if you don't count that as 2 books, it's still either 5/7 or 6/7 which is a GOOD RESULT. *pats self on the back*. As for those other books, okay, so they'll get pushed off onto my August TBR. Court of Fives and The Accident Season are actually being released in August, so it's my goal to review them before their release date! Hopefully. As for The Golden Specific, well, that one is OUT, my friends. If I have somehow interested you in the awesomeness that is The Glass Sentence and its sequel, you may purchase these at a bookstore of your choosing.

Currently Reading:

I am currently reading Alanna: The First Adventure (Song of the Lioness #1) by Tamora Pierce with Nicole of the Quiet Concert!

When I was in high school, people recommended Tamora Pierce, specifically the Alanna quartet, to me, along with something by Amy Tan. I didn't follow either rec. Some years later, I read the first 20 pages in a used bookstore. I still didn't buy it (I thought it was MG, actually!) until I was in the Strand last year. Man, I wish I had followed this recommendation earlier. High school me would've eaten this up! Alanna's struggles to be taken seriously and treated as an equal in a male-dominated world, while she is training to be a knight and thus dressing as a boy -- totally my thing then. Also my thing now, though I'm more comfortable with myself now haha. I'm loving seeing how other YA fantasy authors have been inspired by Tamora Pierce and I'm looking forward to being enveloped in the Tamora Pierce fandom.

For August:

I have a couple more books to add to my August TBR. Namely, MG books that are being released this month and that you should be excited for too!

1. George by Alex Gino || Goodreads

2. The Wild Ones by C. Alexander London || Goodreads

3. A Curious Tale of the In-Between by Lauren DeStefano || Goodreads

A non-MG title that I purchased and that I'm hoping to read is Shadowshaper by Daniel Jose Older. Do I think that I'll be able to read ALL these books in August? Uh, well, probably not. But then they'll roll into September.... and so it goes.

What did you read last week? Did you participate in BookTube-A-Thon and how successful were you? What are you planing on reading this month? Have you read any of the above books? Let me know :).

It's BookTubeAThon week (https://twitter.com/BookTubeAThon). Seven books, seven days, seven challenges that are hosted on different channels (yesterday was from Ariel Bissett about Book Dominoes; day 2/today is Scene Reenactment from Raeleen at Padfootandprongs). I'm probably not going to have time to participate in the video challenges and do all this reading... so I've chosen to prioritize the reading. Big surprise, huh?

So what books am I planning on reading?

Well, we'll see how far I actually get but...

1. Venetia by Georgette Heyer

After reading Newt's Emerald by Garth Nix, I saw in the acknowledgements / author's note that he was inspired by Jane Austen and... Georgette Heyer, who was apparently the founder of Regency Romance novels. What! I read a bunch of historical romances, several of which are Regency romances, and I had never heard of her. Wow, clearly I was behind. Then NPR wrote an article about 100 Swoon-Worthy Romances. You guessed it: Venetia is on that list, and I decided why not.

2. Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews

This book was actually going to be one of the books selected for discussion with my book club but then complications arose... but hey, I was going to read this regardless. It was recently made into a film adaptation, and it's been compared to The Fault in Our Stars. So when it was at BEA, I grabbed it. It's got a very distinct teenage male voice. I've been listening to it on the way to work and just yesterday, there was a line about terrorists and hummus and I was kind of offended until I realized oh, hey, everyone probably gets offended at least once while reading this book. It's just so frank, and that frankness is refreshing. Plus some parts of the book have been really funny.

3. Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne

This I got from audiobooksync, which I extolled quite extensively here on the blog. Love audiobooksync! Less a fan of this book so far. It's been hailed as a classic, and I'm pretty sure (?) it's on Gutenberg, but even though I'm about 60% into the audiobook, my thoughts align with this review a lot. The Englishman looking down on all the peoples in the countries he's visited... ugh.

4. The Golden Specific by S.E. Grove

I absolutely loved The Glass Sentence (my review & I listed Sophia as one of my favorite heroines). I pre-ordered The Golden Specific (I asked about it at BEA, too, & listed it in my books I want to read in 2015 video). The Glass Sentence is like everything you could ever want in an MG fantasy adventure, and I can't wait to dive back into S.E. Grove's world and learn more about the Great Disruption and all the different cultures and their different time periods and Sophia and Theo and Shadrack and oooooooooh.

5. Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon

This book has been chosen by my book club for our title this month, so aha! Maybe this challenge will help me to get ahead and read it much in advance of our meeting. I'm pretty sure this is going to be a BIG fall book: look, it already has over 2,000 ratings and it hasn't even been released yet. Also, everyone seems to be talking about it, and it's gotten plenty of rave reviews. I've read about 20 or so pages and it's got an easy to read writing style. Can't wait to read more!

6. More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera

This book was so good when I started it two months ago but then it became one of those books that I was leisurely reading and put aside for something else, I don't even know what anymore, and then I was like, "oh yeah, I'll totally get back to it." It's been two months people. It was good and it was entertaining me. Don't let this become another book that was good and that gets shelved for no reason whatsoever except that I apparently have a short attention span and/or bad memory. I WILL USE THIS CHALLENGE FOR GOOD.

7. Court of Fives by Kate Elliott or The Accident Season by Moira Fowley-Doyle

Not sure which of these two books to choose from for the last title to read! I sincerely doubt I'll be able to get through all seven books in seven days, but hey! Let's be more optimistic! Which book do you think that I should read? I'm excited for both, of course, and I'm an indecisive person, so help a girl out and choose for me, haha :).

So that's what I'm insanely planning to read in a week. This week. Haahaha, well, since I sort of have a head start on some of these books, maybe I'll actually have some progress...???

Even if you're not a BookTuber, I'd highly recommend checking out the video challenges. I spoke recently about lacking motivation for reading / blogging / booktubing. Watching the video made me laugh and feel all hyped again. It's always a treat to see someone else's enthusiasm for reading and books, so hey, if you need a cheer, there you have it.

What are you going to be reading this week or just this month? Have you read any of the books I've listed above? Which should be my seventh book? Let me know what you're reading and up to!