Thoroughly modern millennial

Tag: TBR

  • Reading Goals For 2016

    A brand new year means brand new challenges. Though this year’s resolutions are centered around my one word goal, I’m still happy to throw in 5 books I vow to read in 2016 as well. After finishing curating this list I’ve only just now realised all of the authors I’ve picked are all female (YASSS!) and cover a nice range of non-fiction, essays and fictional YA from different genres (go me!).

    tbr-2016

    *images via Goodreads

    Changing My Mind: Zadie Smith

    I developed a very serious love for essay writing, but I’ve never managed to actually sit and read one cover to cover – I tend to go via the contents and pick out ones that sound interesting to me. Zadie Smith is an awe inspiring woman, so I’m sure I’ll come out of this one with fully highlighted pages of great quotes.

    Remix: Non Pratt

    This is my ‘want to read cause it looks hella fun’ choice on the list. Non Pratt comes highly recommended by most book bloggers and I’ve heard nothing but good about Remix. I already follow Pratt on Twitter and lover her humour of there so am really looking forward to this one.

    How To Be A Heroine: Samantha Ellis

    Spoiler alert! I’m trying to write a novel with female leading protagonists. In my quest to learn how to write better this year I’m after some decent ‘writing’ critique books that won’t make me feel like I’m reading a journal for an Undergrad dissertation. ‘How to…’ looks ace, plus I’m a bit of geek for books about analyzing books, plus this one comes with a whiff of feminist critique too.

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    *images via Goodreads

    A Darker Shade of Magic: V.E. Schwab

    I read the extract for this a few months ago and ended up buying the book when it came out because I was itching to know more – it then sat on my TBR shelf for a long, long time…Oops! From what I’ve read so far Schwab is throwing out some steampunk-y/The Night Circus vibes with this. I’m dying to get back into good series now that so many of my favourites have finished up, so maybe ADSOM will be the one!

    Only Ever Yours: Louise O’Neil

    I feel like everyone and their mother is trying to recommend this book to me. Which can only mean one of two things 1. It’s going to mother-effin’-mindblowingly good, or 2. It’ll be a let down but I’ll still enjoy it somewhat. I’m hoping for the former. From everything I’ve heard about Only Ever Yours, O’Neil knuckles down to some seriously tough topics. Some reviewers are calling it an accessible Atwood for the YA crowd. I loved Handmaiden’s Tale, so we’ll see how this matches up.

    Additional Goals

    As well as these five books, I’m also going to aim to finish 25 books this year and read 5 graphic novels too. I have Saga and Ms. Marvel to catch up on and received Alias: Jessica Jones over Christmas so am really excited to get back into those.

    As always I’m also keeping on eye out on reading more diversely. I burned through books written by female authors last year, but want to challenge myself to read books written by people of colour and LGBTQ fiction as well. I also seriously need to get ruthless with what I enjoy and what I don’t – no more reading books I can’t be bothered to pick up after 100 pages!

    Linked with that I’m actually going to try and buy less books this year. Fear not, I’ve not gone completely mad but I want to get on with my Netgalley backlog and borrow more books from my local library too. In the effort to save a bit of money this year I want to buy more books second hand. Seeing as Oxford has some fantastic charity and second hand bookshops this should be easy!)

    Give me a shout out in the comments whether any of you have read any of the books I’ve picked out and whether you have any book goals for the year too.

    And whilst I’ve got your attention, why not pop over to Blogger’s Bookshelf and check out what all our team and readers are planning on reading this year too!

    Ria

  • To Be Read | #3

    0.3 TBR

    Happy Sunday guys! A little bit of an easy read – har de har puns – for today. Despite the fact I am technically supposed to be on a book buying ban, I’ve been a bit of a busy bee with new purchases lately. Feel free to indulge me as I demonstrate the fact I have no self-restraint when it comes to books.

    Thirteen Chairs | Dave Shelton

    Bought on ‘Books Are My Bag’ day, I found this one floating around the YA section in Waterstones on it’s lonesome – so of course I had to buy it. The cover caught my eye and the plot is just so interesting , in fact I’m actually partially writing my NaNoWriMo is a similar style. I’ve only read a few pages, but I can’t wait to get into this more.

    Why Your Five Year Old Could Not Have Done That | Susie Hodge

    I picked this one up after a recent visit to the Tate Modern in London. After a quick flick through the pages, the book breaks down some of the most famous and controversial modern art pieces which tend to get the general public’s scratching their heads. The past year has opened my eyes to modern art and I’m really keen to learn more, so this seemed like a perfect fit.

    The Stepford Wives | Ira Levin

    A classic psychological thriller and, in my opinion, one of the earliest examples of the now popular ‘utopian’ society setting, The Stepford Wives has been on my ‘to read’ list for the longest time. I found this copy in an independent bookshop recently and decided it was high time I stuck it on my bookshelf. I adore the film, so am really interested in seeing how book delves into the storyline more.

    ‘I wandered lonely as a cloud’ And Other Poems You Half Remember From School | Ana Sampson

    Like modern art, I’m trying to re-educate myself about poetry. School really turned me against this writing form for the longest time, and it wasn’t until I started watching slam poets on Youtube and downloaded a copy of Sylvia Plath’s ‘Ariel’ to read that I started to feel the interest in the genre creep back in. I’m hoping the book will be a nice accompaniment to my quest to re-ignite my interest in some of the classic stuff that I never got my head around at school. This was part of a whole series of books about re-educating your mind on things you were taught at school which I found browsing Brick Lane Bookshop – honestly had to resist the entire set, they all looked really cool!

    So that’s four more added to my ever growing TBR pile on my bedside table.

    What’s on your list ‘to read’? Have any of these sparked your interest?

    R.xoxo

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  • August | In Books…in progress + book haul special!

    TBR #2
    Hands up who was lame and didn’t finish any books in August….I’ll just go stand in the corner shall I? August has turned out to be the most unexpectedly hectic month so far this year with LeakyCon and finishing Placement and general horrible exhaustion it’s all gone a bit all over the place. You’ve already seen the effects of this with the sporadic nature of my blog post, but I’ve also just had no time to sit down, relax and read =(
    So instead of a round up of books that I’ve finished, I have two good ones in progress and a HUGE to be read pile/book haul for you!
    In progress I have The Cuckoo’s Calling by Robert Galbraith a.k. Ms Jo Rowling herself. I started this pre-Leaky amidst all of the pseudonym announcement hype and found it so much easier to get into than The Casual Vacancy (*cough* which I still haven’t finished *cough*). It has the feel of a traditional British crime drama and the added theme of the costs of fame is really intriguing. Not to mention the fact that I’m loving the characters so far, the lead detective Comoron Strike reminds me of Gene Hunt.

    Another in progress, is Code Name Verity, this was another pre-Leaky book I picked up in my local library and am now a few chapters into it. Normally historical literature takes a while for me to get into but I really like that this one is more character driven with the historical details providing a backdrop to her story. I actually got to talk to Elizabeth Wein at Leaky and she was really lovely about my admission that I’m not a huge historical fan and she urged me to keep on going seeing as I’m liking the book so far! 
    And now the book haul pile! Leaky edition – bet you’re all sick of hearing about it right ;)
    I have four books form the Convention itself.

    1. Fearsome Dreamer by Laure Eve – it’s not actually out until October but they were selling pre-publish date copies. Wahoo! Laure was another LeakyCon Lit Track author, who was both the amazingly cool and adorably geeky.

    2. Wake by Robert J. Sawyer – I picked this one up at the HP Alliance’s Apparating Library, having donated my copy of Warm Bodies in exchange. They encouraged us to annotate any book donations and the previous owner of Wake has certainly taken that to heart, it’s full of writing and post it notes from what I’ve glanced at so far (the previous owner is also a Darren Criss fan so go figure, she clearly has impeccable taste!). I fell for the plot as soon as I read it, seems like a refreshing spin on the dystopian/utopian genre and am really looking forward to reading it.

    3.Finally Slated by Teri Terry…

    4. …and Boy Nobody by Allen Zadoff, which they were giving out on the last day of LeakyCon….FOR FREE. I know. Just on a table. You picked it up and took it away. Madness. I should’ve just taken 10 copies and ran. Slated’s been on my TBR list for a while, so am so chuffed I got a freebie, and the synopsis looks pretty decent for Boy Nobody too.

    I also have one more book from the library, The Handmaiden’s Tale by Margaret Atwood. I was surprised I hadn’t read this yet, but alas I’ll be attempting to tick this classic off my book bucket list now.