TBR l April 2018

• Tampa, Alissa Nutting
• Asking For It, Louise O'Neill
• Asking For It, Kate Harding
• The Girl in 6E, A.R. Torre
• All the Ugly and Wonderful Things, Bryn Greenwood

Wrap Up l January + TBR l February

Welcome to the New Year

Happy 2018

I focused on some of my favourite reads from last year, to reread for the beginning of this year. 

Hp Lovecraft has been my go to guy for the past 6 months or so. Looking into getting a nice copy of the Necronomicon (or another one of his complete works) as my older secondhand copy is falling to pieces (I have taken to listing the stories I read because I often don't read them all) 

Favourite Book Of The Month : 

1. HP Lovecraft Novellas and Short Stories *Papercopies & Audiobooks *50% are rereads
1. The Tomb
2. Dagon
3. The Outsiders
4. The Fisherman of Falcon Point
5. The Nameless City
6. The Doom That Came to Sarnath
7. The Music of Erich Zann
8. From Beyond
9. The Evil Clergyman
10. The Other Gods
11. The Cats of Ulthar
12. The Dunwhich Horror, HP Lovecraft *reread *audiobook
13. The Call of Cthulhu, HP Lovecraft *Audiobook
14. Witches Hollow
15. The Shadow Over Innsmouth
2. The Tale of the Body Thief, Anne Rice (Vampire Chronicles book #4) * Audiobook
3. Memnoch the Devil, Anne Rice (Vampire Chronicles book #5) *Audiobook
4. The Trophy Taker, Lee Weeks
5. The Hatching, Ezekiel Boone *Reread
6. The Skittering Ezekiel Boone *reread
7. The Cellar, Minette Walters *reread
8. Innocent Victims : Novella Bindup, Minette Walters
1. Chickenfeed
2. Tinderbox
9. The Vampire Armand, Anne Rice (The Vampire Chronicles Book #6)
10. Hope : A Memoire of Surviving in Cleveland, Gina DeJesus and Amanda Berry *non-fiction
11. Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold *Reread
12. Dark Graphic Tales by Edgar Allen Poe, Denise Despeyroux
13. Inuyasha #20 

Started

• Deadline, Mira Grant (Newsflesh Book #2)
• Merrick, Anne Rice (The Vampire Chronicles #7) *audiobook
• A Mothers Reckoning, Living in the Aftermath of tragedy, Sue Klebold *non-fiction

TBR - March

March 

TBR

I am more than half done the final novel in The Dark Tower series so I want to finish that and get my reviews up.

1. The City of Lost Souls, Cassandra Clare
2. The City of Heavenly Fire, Cassandra Clare
3. A Game of Thrones, George RR Martin

TBR - Febrauary

1. The Wolves of the Calla, Stephen King
2. The Song of Susannah, Stephen King
3. The Dark Tower, Stephen King
4. The Golden Compass, Stephen King

TBR - December

Sorry that this is a little late, but better late than never! It is the final month of the year, the Christmas month! I got through 73 books so far this year and I am so happy with that, my goal was 52 books (one for every week of the year) so anything I read this month is more or less a bonus!

I am not putting any Christmas books on this list but I do read all my childhood favourites as I unpack them with the decorations!

1. Different Seasons, Stephen King
2. Everything's Eventual, Stephen King
3. Four Past Midnight, Stephen King
4. Just After Sunset, Stephen King
5. Elanor, Jason Gurley
6. Ravensbrück: Life and Death in Hitler's Concentration Camp for Women, Sara Helm

I have started all of these books, the first four are short story collections. The last two are reading challenge novels. 

TBR - November

This is going to be a short list, I just haven't had the time to read lately. I had set my expectations for September/October really high, I didn't do too badly with my goals but I didn't meet them either which is disappointing, I would rather set the bar low and exceed it. I been listening to more audiobooks than doing actual reading when I have had a little bit of time. 

If I do get through these I have a few other Stephen Kings that I would like to get into, mostly his short stories. A

TRB - September & October 2016

So i've been watching lots of booktube videos lately and this is partially inspired by the TBR shame tags. So this is a total list of novels I have set aside to read. I doubt I will get through them all in the next couple of months. But a girl can dream right?
This is also somewhat of a book ban, as I want to get these done before I start adding to this list.

1. Deceptions and Betrayal, Kelley Armstrong, Cainsville 3 & 4
2. The Thirst 1 - 5, Christopher Pike
3. Frankenstein 1 2 3, Dean Koontz
4. The Complete Vampire Chronicles (12 books!), Anne Rice
5. Finders Keepers & End Game, Stephen King
6. The Millenium Trilogy, Stieg Larson *aka The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
7. Night Huntress Novels 4, 5, 6, Jeaniene Frost

So a total of 30 books, and it looks more like 10 on the shelf because most of them are in box sets or omnibuses 

Yes I know this list isn't insanely long, but I never keep to many books around or else I start to feel overwhelmed and read nothing at all. So that little anxiety keeps me from having piles and piles of unread books. 

Wrap Up - August 2016

Got lots of reading done this month. Had lots of time to read in the airport, travelling is one of my favorite reading times because you don't really have anything else around to distract you. Extended uninterrupted reading time for the win!

1. The Stand, Stephen King
2. Hell, Texas, Tim Miller
3. Bloody Bank Heist, Tim Miller
4. The Fireman, Joe Hill
5. Salem's Lot, Stephen King *I am not going to do a full book review for this book, I just don't have enough to say, It was great, a must read for Dracula fans. Very much a vampire novel, not so much a typical King.
6. Misery, Stephen King
7. I Ripper, Stephen Hunter
8. The Darkest Powers Trilogy, Kelley Armstrong
1. The Summoning 
2. The Awakening 
3. The Reckoning

Favorite Book This Month

TBR - May 2016

I am going to be making this months list really short, I have no idea how much time I am going to be able to dedicate to reading and would rather be pleasantly surprised vs disappointed in what I get through.

*I have all of these on audiobook I have been listening over reading a lot lately.

Book Review - Watership Down

Watership Down

Richard Adams

6 stars
Fiction / New Classic / Movie / Children's book /
Medium Level Read
481 Pages

*Listened to this on Audiobook

The rabbits of Sandalwood Warren live in peace. One of the young bucks, Fiver, is psychic. He has a terrible vision of destruction coming to the Warren, most of the rabbits choose to stay but a small party including Fivers older brother Hazel, choose to leave in search of the Watership Down; the ideal place to start a warren.

This has been on my TBR list for years; I picked up the book several times and just couldn't get into the novel. I decided to give the audiobook a go, and finally I got through it.
The story is simple but beautiful, a novel worth reading, something I will one day read to my kids, the story has lots of great morals, and lessons.

Series Review - Divergent

The bookworms archenemy ; the popular books you HAVE to read, that you know are SO over hyped and media inflated (especially when there are movies involved), that you want to read but don't at the same time. Then you read the darn thing and its only OK. It's the OK that I really have a problem with, I am very rarely in the "grey area" with novels, I am a love it or hate it kind of person. All of the YA trilogies lately have been falling in the grey area and its driving me crazy.

Divergent Trilogy

Veronica Roth

Dystopian/ YA
Easy Read

Divergent
5 stars

Introducing our setting, five factions based on the five evils that cause war. Abegnation that believe it is selfishness, Erudite that believe it is ignorance, Dauntless that believe it is cowardice, ect. Amity and Candor are the other two factions. Four factions live together in a  city, Amity the fifth lives just outside the fence. The factions do not interact with each other on base levels, they do not work together, go to school together, or get married outside of their own faction. When the teens of the city turn 16 they take an aptitude test and then there is a choosing ceremony, each person is born into a faction, the choosing ceremony is the only time when a person can decide to change factions. Hence the name during the choosing ceremony each person will choose what Faction they want to devote their lives to *the Factionless also live within the city, they are essentially the homeless. To be Factionless is considered a fate worse than death.
Tris is our main character, she was born Abegnation but her aptitude test is inconclusive which makes her Divergent (she could join Dauntless, Erudite or Abegnation equally). Divergence is dangerous, although the majority people don't know of its existence and those who do don't know why it is dangerous. Tris becomes Dauntless where she meets Four who has secrets of his own... and suddenly the world as they know it begins to unravel at the seams.

I don't have much to say about this book, its a good read, its not original, there are movies. Its a dystopian YA.

BEWARE SPOILERS!!!

TBR - December 2015

I have not published a TBR list in a few months now. I have been in somewhat of a reading slump, some of it is lack of motivation and I just haven't had the time.

The bit of reading that I have done has been rereads more than anything.

I am going to be really ambitious for December however.

• The Darkest Minds Trilogy, Alexandra Bracken
• The Darkest Minds
• Never Fade
• In the Afterlight
• The Right to Life, Jack Ketchum
• The Stand by Stephen King
• Allegiant, Veronica Roth
• Watership Down, Richard Adams

Plus continuing on with the Lord of the Rings, Audiobooks

TBR - August 2015

TBR
August 2015

So I just moved to New Zealand and things are crazy so I am not really expecting to be reading much this month, setting my sights pretty low, its still 6 books that have been in my TBR pile for a little while now which is good.

1. Divergent Trilogy, Divergent, Insurgent, Allegiant, 
2. Daughter of Smoke and Bone Trilogy, Lauren Taylor

Bonus for this month would be 

• one classic
• one horror novel
• AND OR
• Starting the hobbit/ lord of the rings (because the movie sets are here in NZ and I should get around to reading those books soonish)

Mini TBR - Library Haul July

Mini TBR / Library Haul
Last 10 Days of July
21-31

I have really gone beyond what I planned on reading for this month, I had a few chunky books that ended up being quicker reads that I thought, I ended up having a little bit more time than I thought as well.  So in hopes to keep this momentum going I am posting this, I have really wanting to get through the first three.

1. The UnWelcome Child, VC Andrews
2. The Skin Collector, Jeffery Deaver
3. Sacrifice, SJ Bolton
4. Ruby Red, Kerstin Gier
5. Saphire Blue, Kerstin Gier

Vampire Book Tag

I am going to put this all down as if you are Vamp Newbies, and know next to nothing about our friends from beyond the grave.
What defines a vampire for me aka THE RULES not all of these criteria need to be met but the first 3 are always present, the farther down the list we go the more specific the book would have to be
*as vampires age from new born vamp to ancient the rules often modify or change all togther 

1. Undead 
2. Immortal, remain the age/appearance they died at, unnatural healing capabilities
3. Supernatural Powers (may have all or none or some)
1. Unnaturally/Inhumanly 
1. strong, 
2. fast, 
2. animal like hearing, 
3. eyesight, night-vision
4. Flight
5. Psychic powers, telekinesis, vampire to vampire  and or vampire to human
4. Killed by -- Often turn to dust, or skeleton when killed
1. Sunlight
2. Stake through the heart 
3. decapitation
4. Fire (completely consumed)
5. Silver (bullet or stake fatal, burns when in contact with skin, vampire kryptonite)
6. If you kill a "sire" vampire all the vampires he "created" will die too,
7. if restrained can be starved to death
8. some vampires need air (drowning/suffocation) others don't
5. Non-Fatal "allergies" to
1. Garlic
2. Holy Water
3. Crosses, not effected by bible passages, "God" spoken aloud may have reaction of sorts
4. Bites from werewolves/ other paranormal beings
6. Created by
1. Evil spell
2. Demonic possession 
3. bitten by vampire  and or 
1. only to rise as one after "natural death"
2. and only transformed if you drink his blood as well
3. must drink another humans blood before transforming
4. Some can be born vampire, either two vamps conceive somehow or pregnant human mother is bitten and gives birth to vampire child.
5. Half Blood Vampires, from a variety of things
6. Created by human virus/experimentation 
7. Depending on the novel becoming a vampire can have various levels of difficulty and steps not all humans can always become vampires 
7. Fangs, they drink blood, most often must be from a human direct from the source, could also be direct from source animal, human from the source or blood bank style, animal from the source or blood bank style, other vampires, may be allergic and or preferential to certain types of blood
1. Blood Lust or Urge to feed, May or May not be able to control, may be affected by
1. when the vampire last feed
2. age of vampire
3. if the vampire is wounded
4. strength of sire vampire
5. may or may not have to kill when feeding
2. May or may not be affected by state of humans blood, ie drunk humans, what people eat, blood type, HIV, Aids, Cancer
8. May or may not have reflection  and/or shadow, or turn up on film
9. May or may not need an invitation into places, ranging from private homes to any type of building
10. Ability to change shape, bat, smoke, 
11. Control over other supernaturals (varies)
12. Must sleep when the sun is up, variety of rules for dusk/dawn,
13. Good vs Evil Age old question of with or without a soul, same human as before transformed/ monster looking like human

If I have missed anything please comment. I am sorry if this list is hard to fallow I referenced a few websites + good ol' wikipedia and my somewhat wonderful memory bank
Depending on the novel vampirism can be an underground secret affaire to something very public.
It can be an old or new "condition" depending on how long the public has known about vampirism.
Humans in the novel can range from Wanna-be vamps to terrified victims desperate to escape any contract to vampire hunters

This post seems to be getting way longer than I intended it to be...

The Horror Readers Evolution

It all begins with Halloween... Scooby Doo. Mysteries. The transformation scene in Pinocchio.

Picture Books

• The Big Pumpkin, Erica Silverman
• Too Many Pumpkins, Linda White
• Spooky Hour, Tony Mitton
• Boo! Robert Munsch 

Children's Horror

• Goosebumps, RL Stine
• Fear Street R L Stine
• Shivers, MD Spenser
• Spine Tinglers, MT Coffin
• Scary Stories, Alvin Schwarts 
• Bone Chillers, Betsy Haynes

YA Horror

• Coraline, Neil Gaiman
• Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, Ransom Riggs

Classics

• Frankenstein, Mary Shelly
• Dracula, Bram Stoker
• Dr. Jekyll & Mr Hyde, Robert Louis Stevenson
• Edgar Allen Poe, Collection

Adult Authors

• Richard Laymon
• Stephen King
• Richard Matheson
• Dean Koonze
• Jack Ketchum
• Clive Barker

Famous Movies That Are Books

• The Exorcist, William Peter Blatty
• The Haunting of Hill House, Shirley Jackson
• Rosemary's Baby, Ira Levin
• Silence of the Lambs, Thomas Harris
• Jaws, Peter Benchley
• 30 Days of Night, Tim Lebbon
• Cabin in the Woods, Tim Lebbon

There are lots of things here that I left out so please leave a comment if you have a must read horror novel that comes to mind right away.

Childhood and TBR Series. Comics

Series I loved as a child

The Secrets of Droon
Shivers
Goosebumps
Dragon Slayers Academy
Captain Underpants

Do Comic Books Count as Series?

Garfield
Tintin
Asterix

TBR Series

The Lord of the Rings, J R R Tolkien

The Maze Runner, James Dasher

Sookie Stackhouse, Charlaine Harris

The Lunar Chronicles, Marissa Meyer

Completed Series, Trilogies Duologies

Duologie

The Sight, David Clement Davies
If I Stay, Gayle Forman
The Shinning, Stephen King
Daughter of the Lioness, Tamora Pierce

Trilogy

As Dead As It Gets, Katie Alender
Inkworld, Cornelia Funk
Beka Cooper : The Hunt Records, Tamora Pierce

Complete Series

The Books of Pellinor (4 books)
Uglies, Scott Westerfeld (4 books)
Hannibal Lecter, Thomas Harris (4 books)
IceMark Chronicles, Stuart Hill (4 books)
Warriors, Erin Hunter (6 books)
The Beast House Chronicles, Richard Laymon (4 books)
Twilight, Stephenie Meyer (4 books)
The Circle Opens, Tamora Pierce (4 books)
Song of the Lioness Tamora Pierce (4 books)
Protector of the Small, Tamora Pierce (4 books)
Immortals, Tamora Pierce (4 books)
Circle of Magic, Tamora Pierce (4 books)
Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Rick Riordan (5 books)
Harry Potter, JK Rowling (7 books)
Series of Unfortunate Events, Lemony Snicket (13 books)
The Nightside, Simon R Green (12 books)
Redwall, Brain Jaques (22 books)

Rory Gilmore Reading Challenge Intro.

I have never watched Gilmore Girls so I am not in a huge rush to finish this list by any means. I found this list on Pintrest, discovered I have already read quite a few and have some others on my TBR list.

There are 338 Books on the List, the Link to the list is here

Read

1. Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl
2. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
3. Carrie, Stephen King
4. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger
5. Christine, Stephen King
6. The Crucible, Arthur Miller
7. Cujo, Stephen King
8. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time, Mark Haddon *I remember Loving this book and thinking it was something everyone should read in school but I need to reread it
9. The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown
10. Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, Robert Louis Stevenson
11. The Great Gatsby F Scott Fitzgerlad
12. Hamlet, Shakespear
13. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling
14. Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone, JK Rowling
15. How The Grinch Stole Christmas, Dr Seuss
16. The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini
17. The Lion the Witch and The Wardrobe, CS Lewis
18. The Little Match Girl, Hans Christian Anderson
19. The Lottery, Shirley Jackson
20. The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold
21. My Sisters Keeper, Jodi Picoult
22. The Raven, Edger Allen Poe
23. Romeo and Juliet, Shakespear
24. A Room of Ones Own, Virginia Woolf
25. The Shinning, Stephen King

Started But Never Finished

When I was taking english classes in school many of these where on reading lists for final projects or some of the bigger essays, I would start to read one of these books and if I couldn't figure out how I was going to write the essay from the book, to go with whatever our topic question was I would put the book down after about 100 pages and try again... Some of these I will finish some I might not they are at the bottom of my TBR more or less

1984, George Orwell
Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carrol
Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
Beowulf
Canterbury Tales, Chaucer
Charlottes Web, EB White
A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
Edgar Allen Poe, Complete Tales
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Hunter S Thompson

My Rory Gilmore TBR List

The Dirt : Confessions of the Worlds Most Notorious Rock Band, Motely Crue
Fat Land : How Americans Became the Fattest People in the World, Greg Critser
Lord of the Rings, J R R Tolkein
Frankenstein, Mary Shelly

2015 January to May Wrap up + Mini Reviews

This is me playing catch up for the year

Wrap Up

1. Dirty Rocker Boys, Bobbie Brown
2. Skinny, Donna Cooner
3. The Fault in our Stars, John Green 
4. Prince of the Icemark, Stuart Hill
5. Gerald's Game, Stephen King
6. The TommyKnockers, Stephen King
7. It, Stephen King
8. The Bourne Supremacy, Robert Ludlum
9. The Bourne Identity, Robert Ludlum
10. Clash of Kings, George R Martin
11. A Game of Thrones, George R Martin
12. Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Robert Louise Stevenson
13. The Lost Hero, Rick Riordan
14. The Son of Neptune, Rick Riordan

Mini Reviews

Loved - It

Hated - The Tommyknockers, I hated this book, the only thing that got me through was my promise to read all the Stephen Kings and the references to other books, this is the first Stephen King I have despised.

Classic - Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

Series's

1. A Song of Ice and Fire
2. Lost Heroes of Olympus
3. Bourne

Disappointed - A Game of Thrones and Fault in our Stars, both for the same reason. I was told I absolutely HAD to read them, they where amazing, that I had never read anything quite like them, on and on and on. After much harassment I did read them, they are good but they are not great or overly original. I would classify The Fault in our Stars as average writing a YA version of My Sisters Keeper with a less than original plot that left me thinking a wanna be JD Salinger.

Non Fiction - Dirty Rocker Boys