Daily Bookish Challenges | Day Two: Monday, September 15

Introduce us to your favorite author and their books!

I have two favorite authors, and to try to choose between the two of them would just be cruel, so I'm going to talk about the one I discovered first.

Dean Koontz--
I started reading Dean Koontz in middle school. My sixth grade teacher, Shelley Cain, read Watchers to us, after reading herself first and highlighting the parts that weren't appropriate for a group of fifth and sixth graders. I'd found my favorite genre: thrillers. Some of Koontz's books are supernatural, and some are just plain weird, but they're all suspenseful and I love that in a book! If you're new to Koontz's writing and/or the genre, I would read either The Taking or Watchers first, because those two really highlight his writing style and they're so good! The Husband is great also, and it's not supernatural-y, so that's a good place to start if you want something more realistic. I actually have signed copies of The Taking and The Husband. I wrote him a letter (as I do every author I read), and he replied with a nice letter and signed copies of two of the books I mentioned in his letter. I was so excited, I almost cried.

He has far too many books to list (over 70 books, not including those he co-wrote or wrote under a pen name), so I'm just going to list my favorites!

• The Taking
• Watchers
• The Husband
• The Face
• Sole Survivor
• Whispers
• Odd Thomas [I never finished this because it was on my kindle, but I'm going to buy it soon]

If you like thrillers, definitely check out his books. He's been compared to Stephen King (some people say that Koontz rips off King's writing style all the time), but I think his books are easier to read than Stephen King's books are, so I enjoy them a little more.

Treesofreverie September Read-a-Thon Daily Wrap-Up | Day One: Sunday, September 14

Note: So I started the read-a-thon yesterday since it started yesterday in other timezones, but I'm including yesterday and today as day one in order to stay on track with challenges and wrap-ups and such.

Book(s) Read Today: Dark Places by Gillian Flynn
Pages Read Today: 164
Pages Read Total: 164
Number of Books Completed Today: 0
Number of Books Completed Total: 0
Challenges Completed:

• Join the Treesofreverie September Read-A-Thon event on Facebook and share your TBR list and reading updates
• Complete the daily Bookish Challenges
• Read outside
• Read a popular or well-known book
• Read a book you’ve heard a lot of good things about
• Read a book from your Goodreads to-read shelf

I didn't get the chance to participate in any sprints or discussions today, but I'm hoping I will be able to do one or both tomorrow!

I made my reading goals/TBR post earlier, and I also participated in the Day 1 Bookish Challenge.

I read quite a bit once I got home from, but not nearly as much as I would have read if I hadn't decided to watch Grease and sing all of the lyrics at the top of my lungs. Maybe tomorrow I will read more. I hope to finish Dark Places and move on to Aristotle and Dante or PS I Love You.

I hope everyone had a great first day of the read-a-thon!

Happy reading!

Treesofreverie September Read-a-Thon Reading Goals

For this read-a-thon, I plan to read a total of five books and/or a total of 1000 pages.
I don't have an official TBR set for this read-a-thon, because my reading mood is incredibly varied depending on how I feel about the book I've just finished. However, I do have a large pile of books checked out right now, and I plan to read from this pile for the read-a-thon. In this pile, I have:

• Dark Places by Gillian Flynn. I actually own this book, but I started it before the read-a-thon and want to finish it. I started reading this book because Gone Girl was amazing.
• P.S. I Love You by Cecelia Ahern. I've been meaning to read this for ages. I loved the movie, and my friend said that, even though the book and the movie are pretty different, the book is phenomenal.
• Tiger Lily by Jodi Lynn Anderson. I saw this book on BookBub a few weeks ago, and recommended it to a friend because she loves Peter Pan. After she read the book, she told me I should read it. So I checked it out. [Note: I also have this book on my kindle, which is sometimes working, sometimes not. If I don't read this book by the time it is due, I'll figure out  a way to read it on my Kindle instead]
• House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski. I love all things creepy: books, movies, video games, and even the occasional comic. I saw a post floating around on tumblr about this book and after a quick Goodreads search, I added it to my hold list at the library. I can only hope it's a creepy as people say it is.
• Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz. This book was a recommendation I got during a recent giveaway on tumblr.
• Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins. I need to know what all the fuss is about.
• Panic by Lauren Oliver. I read Before I Fall and Delirium, and Lauren Oliver has officially gained a fan.
• Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver. I need to know what happens to Lena. I started reading this before I decided I don't want to get into a series slump right now, and the first thirty pages or so made me want to keep reading. Good sign!
• This is What Happy Looks Like by Jennifer E. Smith. Another recommendation from a giveaway.
• The Geography of You and Me by Jennifer E. Smith. Ditto.
• Wonder by R.J. Palacio. I actually picked this book up because of the cover.
• Charlotte's Web by E. B. White. I want to read this one out loud to my son.
• About a Boy by Nick Hornby. Loved the movie. I hope I love the book!
• The Gunslinger by Stephen King. For some reason I thought it would be a good idea to start a 4,250 page series. I have no plans to rush through it. Just take it book by book.

In addition to reading some, or all, of these books, I also plan to review each book as soon as I finish it, instead of in a big group of reviews when I have the time. This will ensure that my opinion on the book is still fresh in my mind, and I don't forget anything that I want to write.

I also want to start writing down quotes, notes, and predictions as I read. I have a journal that I'll write in, and I might occasionally post them.

Finally, and this isn't totally book-related in the actual reading sense, but I want to finish my third draft of my book and send it off to my contact as soon as possible, as well as work on the layout and pages of this blog/website.

Daily Bookish Challenges | Day One: Sunday, September 14

A curfew has been placed on book purchases for the remainder of the year and you are only allowed to purchase TEN more books for the rest of 2014. Which books will you buy?

Oh crap oh crap oh crap.
Oh, I thought this was saying until the rest of my life. Not the rest of the year.
Ok. This is doable.

1-4) I would buy The Giver Quartet. Probably in a boxed set, because I'm obsessed with boxed sets. The Giver was the first book I ever fell in love with, and the other three books in the series are just so great and such an important extension of the first book, so I would have to get those also. And I want them in a boxed set sooooo bad!

5) Rooms by Lauren Oliver. I love her YA and I think her adult lit is going to be amazing!

6) The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender by Leslye Walton. I've heard a lot of great things about this book, and my library still doesn't have a copy.

7) Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan. Before I deleted my downloaded books, I started this and loved it. I think it could be one that I would reread if I could!

8) A copy of The Book Thief that's got the same cover as the one I own but is in new condition.

9) Three to Get Deadly by Janet Evanovich so I could start a series reread without having to check out a book until book twelve.

10) The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman because I want to read it.

Review: Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

My Rating: ★★★★

Goodreads Plot: Two misfits. One extraordinary love. Eleanor... Red hair, wrong clothes. Standing behind him until he turns his head. Lying beside him until he wakes up. Making everyone else seem drabber and flatter and never good enough...Eleanor. Park... He knows she'll love a song before he plays it for her. He laughs at her jokes before she ever gets to the punch line. There's a place on his chest, just below his throat, that makes her want to keep promises...Park. Set over the course of one school year, this is the story of two star-crossed sixteen-year-olds—smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try.

My Thoughts: This book was great, but then all of a sudden it wasn't. I really, really enjoyed the story. It was drawn out enough that I got to know the characters well, but not so much that I felt like it was dragging. Eleanor and Park had an adorable relationship. However, I feel like it just ended so abruptly. Which I guess was maybe her point, but I don't understand why it had to happen. And why Eleanor just ignored Park like that after the way she felt about him. That aside, it was a great book. Richie scared the junk out of me, and I really felt for Eleanor and her family. I hope this book becomes a movie, because it was really a lot of fun to read overall. 

Review: Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

My Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Plot: Clay Jensen returns home from school to find a mysterious box with his name on it lying on his porch. Inside he discovers thirteen cassette tapes recorded by Hannah Baker, his classmate and crush who committed suicide two weeks earlier. On tape, Hannah explains that there are thirteen reasons why she decided to end her life. Clay is one of them. If he listens, he'll find out how he made the list. Through Hannah and Clay's dual narratives, debut author Jay Asher weaves an intricate and heartrending story of confusion and desperation that will deeply affect teen readers.

My Thoughts: This. Book. This fricking book. I had to take a few days to recover after I read this book. It's really an amazing read. It touches on the important things like bullying, rumors, suicide, and mental illness. The characters were very real, the prose was interesting, and I hung on to every one of Hannah's words in much the same way that Clay did. If you haven't read this book, seriously pick it up and read it. It does have some triggering themes, obviously, but it really is a fantastic read and I'm so glad that I read it. I'm so bad at actually saying how I feel about books but seriously this book was INCREDIBLE. Read it!

Review: Inside Out & Back Again by Thanhha Lai

My Rating: ★★★

Goodreads Plot: No one would believe me but at times I would choose wartime in Saigon over peacetime in Alabama. For all the ten years of her life, HÀ has only known Saigon: the thrills of its markets, the joy of its traditions, the warmth of her friends close by . . . and the beauty of her very own papaya tree. But now the Vietnam War has reached her home. HÀ and her family are forced to flee as Saigon falls, and they board a ship headed toward hope. In America, HÀ discovers the foreign world of Alabama: the coldness of its strangers, the dullness of its food, the strange shape of its landscape . . . and the strength of her very own family. This is the moving story of one girl's year of change, dreams, grief, and healing as she journeys from one country to another, one life to the next.

My Thoughts: This book was ok. Poetry isn't really my thing, especially when it's in this format. But the story was believable and deep, and I read the book in just a couple of hours. The way she describes things is really neat because I could very clearly see these pictures in my head, but the book just didn't do it for me.

Review: Gossamer by Lois Lowry

My Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Plot: Littlest One is a tiny creature slowly learning her job of giving dreams to humans. Each night she and her teacher, Thin Elderly, visit an old woman’s home where she softly touches beloved objects, gathering happy memories, and drops of old scents and sounds. Littlest One pieces these bits together and presents them to her sleeping human in the form of pleasant dreams. But the dreaded Sinisteeds, dark fearsome creatures that plague their victims with nightmares, are always at work against the dreamgivers. When the old woman takes in John, an angry foster child with a troubled past, the Sinisteeds go after him with their horrifying nightmares. Can Littlest One, and her touch light as gossamer, protect John’s heart and soul from the nightmare of his dark past?

My Thoughts: As always, Lowry tells the story of the triumph of good over evil in her own unique way. This book was an easy read, as it is a children's book, but the tenderness of the old woman and the emotions of the boy and his mother are very real. This is also an interesting theory about where our dreams come from, and why we dream of the most random of things sometimes. Great, easy read!

Review: The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Plot: Susie Salmon is raped and murdered, and when she goes to Heaven, she sees how her loved ones (and her murderer) cope with her death, while coming to terms with her own fate.

My Thoughts: This book was phenomenal. I like that it wasn't your usual murder-mystery point of view, and I thought it was interesting how you could feel the passage of time through the narration. At first it was slow, with every detail, and then it got faster and skipped days and months and then years, kind of like what happens when someone dies and you grieve them. I spent weeks reading this because because I didn't want it to end. This book was so good.