Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Resolutions We Have For 2016  (from The Broke and the Bookish)

Read more books that I own (Mount TBR Challenge)

Spend less time stockpiling tons of random cheap titles and focus on getting the more expensive ones I have wanted for a long time.

Make a record of all the books I own (print, digital, and audio), and keep it up to date.

Weed out my collection- I know there is stuff in there I have lost interest in, or will not reread.

Finally undertake my bookplate project (design and create personalized bookplates for the keepers)

Get or make some really nice bookmarks and keep them handy. Receipts and sticky notes are boring and my books deserve better.

Try to stop falling in the Negalley hole. Only request what I really want and plan to read and review.

Set aside more time to read that isn’t just wedged in between working hours or while cooking dinner.

Read more nonfiction on topics I really want to understand better-- like economics, sociology, and various sciences, among others. Don’t be daunted by them.

Be a more consistent blogger.

As I wrote in my post yesterday, 2014 was a really fantastic reading year for me. I'm hoping that 2015 will be as well! I don't think that I'll be able to read too many books just for fun, but I'll be reading a lot for school, so that's good at least. My overall goal for the year is to read 150 books. That's 43 more than I read in 2014, but I think the goal should be pretty attainable, since I have to read 60 just for one of the classes that I'm taking this semester. 

I also would like to make more time to read at least one book for me each month. I don't know how realistic that is. Last semester, by the time I was done with all the reading I had to do for school, the last thing I wanted to do was read some more. It's definitely possible that that will continue, in which case I won't be doing much reading for myself until August. But I'd like to make more time to read books that I actually want to read. 

I also want to make sure that I keep up with my activity on here. If I don't, it's not a big deal - between grad school and my personal life I'm pretty busy and legitimately don't have too much time these days to be on - but I miss the community on here a lot when I'm gone, so I really would like to make more time for booklikes when I'm able to. Hopefully, while I'm in school, I'll be able to write at least one post a week. It's not as frequent as I'd like, but that's probably as much as my schedule will realistically allow. 

Finally, I need to start introducing the baby to books. For those who don't know, my husband and I are expecting our first baby on June 2 - so baby still is quite a long way off from making his/her appearance, but I'd like to get started with reading to him/her. My mom and my mother-in-law have both spoken to me about how important it is to begin reading to babies even before they're born. I feel kind of awkward just reading to my bump, haha, but I want to do what's best for the baby. And of course, once he/she is born, I'll be reading to him/her all the time. So, if those of you who are parents have any advice about what kinds of books are good for babies before they're born, please send it my way! Or if you have advice about how to feel less weird about reading to my baby bump that would be very welcome, too, haha. I want the baby to love reading just like I do (of course, if he/she doesn't that's fine but it's an interest that I'd love for us to share). 

I hope all of you have a wonderful 2015, both as far as books go and with the rest of your lives! Happy New Year! 

Mor, after the death of her twin sister and months in care, moves from the Valleys of Wales to an English boarding school where she is immediately an outcast. Having just met her father for the first time, whose care she is now under, she finds solace in the worlds of Science Fiction novels. After all: Mor’s mother is a witch and she can see fairies, so it makes sense that fantastic writings have appeal.

This book is absorbing, charming and extremely real. Being Welsh and having been to most of the places mentioned, I can understand completely how jarring it would be to move from the valleys and the Welsh way of life to an upper class boarding school in the late seventies. Mor is a teen obsessed with literature and the fantasy world; which instantly bonds you to her character. It’s a coming-of-age story, as Mor works out both who she is and who she will be; learning to lead her own life and break through the painful life she had before.

Mor’s full name is Morwenna, and her twin was Morgana, which again was shortened to Mor. This adds another level of discovery, or breaking free. As a twin, she always had another ‘self’ another person constantly with her, both in looks, in like and in name. Now that person has gone, will forever be stuck at 14: she even sees her sister’s ghost proving this. Mor will grow, change and become a different person alone. And this book is the story of her coming to terms with this.

Then there’s the element of the fantastic. Can Mor actually see fairies? Is her mother really a witch? Or, seeing as her childhood with her mother and the loss of her twin were extremely traumatic, is this her coping mechanism. We’re never sure, and the novel ends almost of a final show down that would free her from this past. Has Mor chosen to face reality, to ‘grow up?’ Or is everything she tells you completely real?

It’s a clever book, which references a huge amount of science fiction classics. So as a bonus, it gives you a fantastic reading list to work on. This is a good piece, one I’m glad I read.

A world without art. A world without religion. Without science, without love, without monogamy, without murder and without individual thought. Everyone is born to their station, artificially created into their job, their places in society and therefore their role. Everything is happy and as it should be, and if you feel sad you take the corresponding amount of a drug to make it go away. You do not have relationships or emotional attachments. Everyone belongs to everyone, and nothing is out of place.

This is genuinely disturbing piece and a quick read. The writing pace and description is excellently done, until the final part of the novel. I felt that the conversation between Mr Savage and the Controller was a little too lecture-style in comparison with the rest of the novel’s format.

All in all, one I would recommend to anyone. It’s more than worth its reputation and standing.

It’s been over a year in the waiting, but here we have the next Peter Grant novel. These are always a joy to read; fun, well-written and contain a fantastic comedic element that actually appeals to my sense of humour. I raced through this, enjoying Peter’s ‘escape to the country’. I did miss the London centric focus, but we’ll be getting that in the next of the series.

The story is interesting, hilarious and full of enough geek references to keep me happy and smiling. But in terms of the overall plot, the book fails to advance us in any direction at all. And considering where we left the last one, this is frustrating. I personally am far more interested in Nightingale, Molly and Leslie than I am in Peter’s love life.

So a good fantasy fairytale with a lot of classic lore. But if the next novel doesn’t progress the overall plotline, I don’t think I’ll be as keen on this series.