Book things – Page 11

I’m Excited for An Absolutely Remarkable Thing

July 30, 2018July 30, 2018aquapages // eline1 Comment

Even if I have to google how to spell the name and still is convinced I get it wrong. Have you seen the endpages of Hank Green’s debut novel “An Absolutely Remarkable Thing”? There’s a blogpost by the artist Tekst which shows the endpages and the process, which I found interesting and thought you might as well: https://blog.usejournal.com/aart-endsheets-a9e4c2175783

The book is out September 25th 2018 and I can’t wait. I haven’t gone out of my way to look for information of what it’s about on purpose, but I think there’s a girl who goes viral or becomes famous on Youtube and that the book among other things deal with the idea of being Internet famous, which Hank Green has some experience with.

I just finished “Radio Silence” by Alice Oseman which also features a lot of internet fandom and success through a podcast getting a fanbase, and when it’s done right, books with internet culture can make me question as well as relate.

Summer TBR | Top Ten Tuesday

June 19, 2018June 9, 2018aquapages // eline11 Comments

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl to bring bookish friends together. A new topic is posted each week.

Why not just post my summer TBR? I am horrible at following tbr’s and do not feel any need to, but most of these books are chosen because I have access to them in the library of the city I am visiting and so this one is more likely than the rest.

Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson

This is a gigantic book, like when I saw the hardcover I laughed out loud in a bookstore. It’s gigantic even for being over a thousand pages. Then I saw the paperback and sighed, it was no smaller and felt like a brick as I carried it around me. I’m so excited to finally start it now after exam season!

Dark Matter by Blake Crouch

It’s science fiction, which I’m trying to read more of this summer. The main character Jason are knocked out and wakes up with a life and family he’s never known. Many of my goodreads friends (and then Hank Green!) has recommended it.

The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne M. Valente

By an author I’ve read and liked, this book hopefully is a intelligent and cute fairytale fantasy for middle schoolers. Am I anywhere close, to those who has read it?

Radio Silence by Alice Oseman

Young adult with queer characters and university life and dreams from an author in her twenties. I’m very excited (it also has an average of 4.3 on goodreads).

A Court of Frost and Starlight by Sarah J. Maas

Do I really want to read this after reading mixed reactions reviews? Not really. Let me go on a rant about what first put me off this book: it’s a novella of 229 pages exactly. The price in the store was that of two and a half normal-sized books! The reviews came out and that price dropped fast, but if I can get it without paying for it I will read it, just to have an opinion. This series is the only one by Sarah I haven’t given up on yet, so a lot is on the line I feel like.

Wolf Island (The Demonata #8) by Darren Shan

I started reading this series as a kid, and as I am going back to my childhood library I hope to finish it! It’s really fantastic and filled with demons.

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami

I love reading Murakami’s books in the summer, the magical realism always fits and gives a good and mysterious mood. I don’t really want to know much about the books before starting them, just let them surprise me.

Einstein by Walter Isaacson

I started reading this a year ago and had to put it down one fourth in to start reading my actual physics syllabus. Now it’s summer and hopefully more time for it again!

Six Easy Pieces by Richard P. Feynman

Speaking of physics, I have it next year as well. I feel like we rush through a lot and the teacher we’ve had until now is good, but he comes from an engineering background and it’s been very focused on appliance instead of theories themselves, if that makes sense. Just trying to get better myself, I guess.

A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari

I also have more history classes next year. I am going to suffer through it, maybe this book will give me some interest.

Books That Makes Me Want to Travel | Top Ten Tuesday

June 12, 2018June 9, 2018aquapages // eline6 Comments

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl to bring bookish friends together. A new topic is posted each week.

I am very excited too read others lists this week, because I want to get more recs of “travel” books. I looked through books I’ve read and found few, except for with fantasy worlds, that made me want to travel. So here’s a few unusual ones –

Upstream by Mary Oliver

All of Mary Oliver’s poems about nature makes me want to run out and find it (which wouldn’t be too difficult since I live in a little valley village). It also makes me want to never return though.

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

I don’t enjoy travel photography as much as actually travelling there and seeing it myself, which I think can be compared to reading about travels. But I really enjoy books like this, where the main characters has to leave abruptly, with little things, because while it’s often not in the best circumstances, it seems like a weirdly freeing feeling.

What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami

All of Haruki Murakami’s books makes me want to travel to the places, often in Japan. Here he also writes from a time living in Hawaii and you get to read descriptions from all his good running routes, along with a marathon in Europe somewhere (Greece, was it?).

Graceling by Kristin Cashore

Ok, I tried to leave out fantasy books, but this had a journey that I so wanted to go on when I read it the first time. I might not have been so worried about the danger either if I had Katsa’s skill with fighting.

Space Opera by Catherynne M. Valente

I mostly added this to the list as a joke, but I would go to space had there been proven other sentient species on other planets. Perhaps not by force, like in this book, but it did make me excited about the future and space travel.

Most Read Authors | Book Blogger Hop

June 10, 2018June 10, 2018aquapages // eline3 Comments

The Book Blogger Hop is hosted by Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer. Every week there’s a new book-themed question to be answered. They seemed really original, short and fun, so I wanted to try it out!

June 8th – 14th: What author have you read the most in the past two years?

Questions like these makes me very relieved that I’m using goodreads to track everything. Let’s see – I think Mary Oliver and Brandon Sanderson is the authors I’ve read most books from. But since Oliver writes poetry and Sanderson long epic fantasy books, I’ve definitely read most Sanderson in total. He’s such a great fantasy writer that also produces so many books, I’ve listened to him explain how he writes pretty straight forward, with little editing (except when rewriting early books) and it’s almost unbelievable. I’ve also read a couple Haruki Murakami books the last two years, as I just discovered him and I love how he uses magical realism to tell stories. I also found out I tend to spread out what kind of books and genres I read in a year pretty well, it’s not as much fantasy or “just” young adult as I thought.

Books I DNF Recently | Top Ten Tuesday

June 5, 2018June 5, 2018aquapages // eline4 Comments

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl to bring bookish friends together. A new topic is posted each week.

Before I didn’t usually stop reading books, but then I realized it was limiting what books I chose to pick up and give a chance. I read to get something positive out of a book, if it’s not for me I won’t go through another two hundred pages of that. So here’s some books I recently put down before finishing.

Sky in the Deep by Adrienne Young

I did not give this book a fair shot. Something about the writing made me understand that I would not think about anything else than how much it got on my nerves. I do not remember what I expected starting this book, but vikings are close to my heart and home and I just went “nope, this seems like the tv version, not for me”. DNF at 10%

The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey

The writing was very lovely with carefully phrased sentences and some mystery behind it, then the plot never takes off, neither does the characters. They see a snow child in the forest outside the house. Wife finally believes man, wife goes slowly crazy or into a depression? And then nothing happens forever, which was why I was out of there. Hope they have a good life afterwards, but it did not seem like that were the way they were heading. DNF at 30%

All the Crooked Saints by Maggie Stiefvater

This book is great. And I could not finish it. I love Maggie Stiefvater’s books, I loved the details in this one, but I could not follow the plot where they’re just wandering the desert and it seemed like there’s some bigger thing I am missing. Will perhaps give it another try. DNF at 70%

One of Us Is Lying by Karen McManus

Do not read this young adult book unless you want to give up on young adult books, is the opinion of a person who reads and likes a lot of them. Good concept, horrible execution, why is it popular. DNF at 25%

Fahrenheit 451

I tried so hard and spent so much time getting through this book, but halfway I was bored out of my mind. I got the concept and the ideas behind it, it might be one of those books that I’ve heard about too much and know just enough about it that it feels like I’ve read it before. Excited for the movie though, I’m sure they’re going to fuck it up even with Michael B. Jordan as the lead. DNF at 50%

Bookish Worlds I’d Want to and Never Want to Live In | Top Ten Tuesday

May 29, 2018aquapages // eline5 Comments

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl to bring bookish friends together. A new topic is posted each week.

I started this list thinking about bookish worlds i’d never want to live in, trying to gain inspiration from other posts since it’s late tuesday already (I usually have these planned out). Turns out a lot of others no-worlds, like The Cruel Prince by Holly Black, I don’t have such a problem with. Would I prefer to live in a world with cruel fae, probably bullying and threatening me? No, and it might be the “fuck everything” vibe all around me now when it’s exam season, but it would be interesting. So here’s a couple worlds I would like to live in and a couple I wouldn’t.

More bookish worlds I would love to live in

I mean, Hogwarts and the world of Harry Potter is a given. I’m a slytherin, took some time to accept that when I was like eleven, but I’ve come to embrace it.

The Graceling realm (by Kristin Cashore) is tough to live in, but I would definitely live here if I could get a grace, which is kind of a gift or magic ability, I’d even take the ability of making everything clean really quickly.

Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman, like I already live in cold Norway, I’d take the gods and godesses as well.

The Raven Cycle world by Maggie Steifvater, like I just want the woods to be magical. They already are a bit, but you know.

Bookish worlds I would never live in

Space Opera by Catherynne M. Valente is kind of our world in the future, just with another universe (hopefully) with lots and lots of aliens. So many types, who all have a big music competition (it makes sense in the book, almost, it’s hilarious anyway) where humans extinction depends on proving us sentient by not coming in last place. It all depends on one song, by artists barely any has heard about. Like Eurovision, hah.

Wolf by Wolf by Ryan Graudin has a world where nazis took over. Enough reasoning, awesome book, here’s my full review.

Wake of Vultures by Lila Bowen, the book takes place in the wild west, I wouldn’t last long and it doesn’t sound fun.

i can not make these boxes disappear or bother to find two more books

and i can’t care because i have a fever, send tips if you know how to

When Exam Season Is Upon Us

May 23, 2018aquapages // eline3 Comments

So. This blog has had a very quiet week. I’m checking in at 10pm to say this quiet time is temporary, I had a couple posts scheduled when going to Belgium a month ago, but since then it’s been crazy busy. And I was chosen to have spanish written exams next tuesday, which I’ve known for a week already and not done anything abotu because family has been visiting, which leaves me with a week left to learn an entire language and how to write spanish essays well. One thing is knowing enough of a language to survive, another entirely seperate thing is knowing how to write argumentative and informative texts. The damn verbs are what’s killing me here.

Enough about exams, talk of them is all over the place and have to grow quite boring. The good news is that my last obligatory spanish class is in a few weeks, as I did not voluntarily put this upon myself for next year as well. No, this person is going to have to survive politics, as it was the only class available besides damn economics for business and I looked at all those spreadsheet formats you have to memorize and was like “shoot me”, along with physics and math. I can already see how this is not a well-formulated blog post by that sentence alone, but bear with me. I’m trying to get my thoughts to turn into spanish the way I imagine alchemists tried to turn objects into gold, and failing just as miserably.

Books I’m reading: I still read some to relax, even though that too has been reduced drastically. I recently bought “The essential Rumi” in some kind of desperation for someone to tell me what’s important and right in this world. It’s not that, which I never expected either, but so far (literally ten pages in) nice poems. I also got “The wastland and other poems” by T. S. Elliot and “Oathbringer” by Brandon Sanderon, which I haven’t started yet, but damn that’s a physically large book.

What I am actually reading is “Space Opera” by Catherynne M. Valente and it’s fantastically absurd story about a interstellar, multiplanetary song contest where if earth comes last they’re completely destroyed. And I also finished “Edgedancer” by Brandon Sanderson because it seemed like a good thing to do before Oathbringer and did not even realize I’ve written a whole review on it before right now. I’m out of it everyone. See you next week 🙂

The only important thing here: regular scheduling back in the end of next week (which solely means more posts and book reviews), thank you to everyone who follows me as I recently noticed I had 100 blog posts!

Books I Disliked But Still Glad I Read| Top Ten Tueday

May 15, 2018April 24, 2018aquapages // eline4 Comments

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl to bring bookish friends together. A new topic is posted each week. This week’s prompt I found especially difficult, so it’s going to be a shorter list of five books.

Nevernight by Jay Kristoff

I’ve written a whole review of why I didn’t like this book. In short this book solved a lot of problems in usual ya fantasy books, which is why I think people like it, but it created maybe even more. I’m still angry at those footnotes (which was the least of the problems). Still, glad to have read it since so many is praising it, but I’m not one of them.

Storm Glass by Maria V Snyder

I really liked Poison Study by Maria V Snyder and thought of her as a possible new fav author. Every other series I’ve read by her has proved this wrong, as it becomes unoriginal and the characters flat. Still glad I gave them a shot, think I will stop trying the series now.

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

This book had its problems and overall it was too pretentious and predictable to like it. If you want the summer-house group story read “the summer I turned pretty” by Jenny Han instead. The mystery part wasn’t a big deal, as far as I remember. But it was enjoyable for a while, until it got boring and I can see why some people like it.

Ash by Malinda Lo

This book has got a lot of praise, but I didn’t like this one either. I think it’s a problem with me and Malinda Lo’s writing overall. I can like the plots, like in Legends, but it feels slow and I lose interest. Cute lesbian romance though.

The Blood of Olympus by Rick Riordan

The book that made me give up on the heroes of olympus series, even if I loved the Percy Jackson series. I don’t think I’ve bothered to take up any other Riordan series since either, and it’s been four fucking years. That’s how bad it became. Good to have finished the series though.

Books With My Favorite Color On the Cover | Top Ten Tueday

May 8, 2018April 7, 2018aquapages // eline1 Comment

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl to bring bookish friends together. A new topic is posted each week.

Now, I’m horrible at choosing one favourite anything. So one colour? Ended up with three, kind of. It makes this list a nice gradient though.

Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas

Aahh, anyone else feeling nostalgic to the beginning of throne of glass? When our main character was eighteen years old and an assassin trying to make it? A simpler time, haha.

The Impossible Knife of Memory by Laurie Halse Anderson

This book has been on my TBR forever and I would love to hear your thoughts if you’ve read it!

Of Triton by Anna Banks

An entertaining summer read, with mermaids! It’s the second book in the series, which is great and full of all the magical water adventure you’d expect.

Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami

A fantastic book that I’ve just written a whole review about.

La Belle Sauvage by Philip Pullman

I’ve heard mixed opinions on this book, but I would still very much like to read it. The cover is lovely though.

We Are Okay by Nina LaCour

I need more books with f/f relationships in my life, and this one was lovely. Here’s a complete review, but I was crying reading this and it’s thoughts on loneliness were spot-on like I’ve never read before.

The F- It List by Julie Halpern

Another book that’s been on my TBR forever and I think I’ll have to get to soon. Would love to hear your opinions if you have some!

The Nightmare Affair by Mindee Arnett

On my TBR list, it’s a boarding school with magic so I’m sold.

The Secret Hour by Scott Westerfeld by Nina LaCour

This series is great! In short, they’re a group of people who get one hour extra each day, so 25 hours. For one hour everything in the world stops, and from there the plot unfolds. Made me think of how I would spend the extra hour.

Queens of Geek by Jen Wilde

Look at that cover! It’s soo pink! And the title is great. I heard it had lesbian and bisexual characters, so it was quickly added to my tbr.

Book Series I Want to Finish | Book Things

May 4, 2018April 28, 2018aquapages // eline1 Comment

So I’ve gone through a lot of my unfinished series and sorted them into those I want to finish and those I’ve finally given up on, if you want that second list please let me know.

Splintered by A.G. Howard

It’s a great series so far and I have yet to read book three Ensnared and the shorter story Untamed. I need to know how all these characters ends up, even though I didn’t feel as excited for book two as book one. It helps that it has fantastic goodreads ratings (4.2!!)

Demonata by Darren Shan

Listen, I started this series back when I was a kid. It was absoloutely horrifying and I LOVED IT. Darren Shan was the author behind a lot of my nightmares, but I weirdly related to the main character that as far as I remember was nothing like me. I’ve read book one through eight out of ten and I really want to read the whole thing again. I distinctly remember a boy absoloutly hating his sister and putting rat guts in her hair towel. And then everyone partners up with demons, or something. There’s some twisted characters. Darren Shan’s other series Cirque du Freak is a great vampire series as well. I’m convincing myself here, I need to pick these up again soon.

All Souls Trilogy by Deborah Harkness

I really liked book one, I don’t really remember book two. I think I’ll need to reread it along with reading book three, which is the reason I haven’t done it yet. I hate rereading books I kind of remember, if they’re not really good. I love witch books though, and the time travelling in this series was actually good.

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

Shatter me was a nice trilogy, I didn’t agree with every choice and the first book was the best, but especially with the novellas I was satisfied. Then a new book comes out, which I’m all excited about and I’ve seen one good review in a sea of bad ones among the book blogs I follow. They’re all saying how excited they were, then the characters changed too much and all went to shit. I’m slightly horrified, but still thinking about reading it. It has a good goodreads rating, but I’m suspicious.

Of Neptune by Anna Banks

This is a cute and entertainting mermaid series and I’ll be delighted to continue it with the third book and novellas during next summer. I really like gathering up summer reads, anyone else?

The Others by Anne Bishop

Vision in Silver, the third book in the excellent The Other, an urban fantasy series. It’s one of the better urban fantasy I’ve read, maybe beaten by Patricia Briggs’ Mercy Thomson series. If you have any urban fantasy recommendations, send them my way! I really like how the community of supernatural beings are built up in this one, along with the main characters place among them as an diplomat of sorts.