Magical-Read-a-thon/April Review

Another month gone.

This month I read four books....At least I'm consistent.

Of those four books I read:

2- Fantasy

    1-Short story collection

    1- Paranormal

1-Young Adult

1- Graphic Novel

Of those four only one was an audio book.

All books accumulated to 1037 pages averaging 34.5 pages a day.

For ratings I had:

0- 1 Star

0- 2 Star

1- 3 Star

3- 4 Star

0- 5 star

My average star rating for the month is 3.75

I have completed three of the challenges for the Around the Year in 52 books Challenge, including:

2) A book from the first 10 books added to your To Be Read List

7) A gothic novel

20) A book rated 5 stars by at least one of your friends

For the Harry Potter themed Magical Read-a-thon I completed three of my owls, getting me a grade of Exceedingly Exceptional (EE)

I completed the following O.W.L's

-Care of Magical Creatures: Read a book featuring a magical creature or has one pictured on the cover

-Transfiguration: Read a book featuring transfiguration/shape-shifting or something of that topic, or has a cat on the cover

-Charms - Read a Fantasy book

Though admittedly, what I ended up completing weren't all completely part of my tbr but after moving stuff around found that the books still fit fine. For some reason I was under the impression I would get a poor grade if I didn't complete three books....so it works.

Getting onto the books:

The first book I finished this month was an audio book:

Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice, Narrated by Simon Vance

Released May 2011 by Audible, 14h 48m

This story is narrated by Luis, for the most part, as he talks to a young reporter in the late 20th Century about his life over the past 200 years as a vampire. His relationship with his so-called "master" Lestat, and their life in New Orleans. He informs us about Claudia, a five year old that came to mean everything to Luis, despite what she was, despite what he helped turn her into. 

This is the first in the Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rise. I grew up watching the movie and loving it. So I was kind of excited to jump into this book. However, I found the narration a bit....dramatic?  Vance had emphasized the typical "Dracula" voice despite Luis being from New Orleans, and a Frenchman at that, it was a little off putting. It was also hard to tell when he spoke for Luis and when he spoke for Lestat. The pace, in the beginning, was fairly slow, I had a hard time getting into the book. I enjoyed it over all, but my over all reaction to it was very "meh." I didn't hate it, but I feel like I could have enjoyed it better. I do hope to continue on with the series.

3 out of 5 stars.

I originally had this book as my chosen book for the Charms challenge for the Magical Read-a-thon, but decided to move it to Care of Magical Creatures. Vampires are magical creatures right? I think so.

This book completed challenge 7) a gothic novel.

The Astonishing Color of After by Emily X.R. Pan

Published March 2018, by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Leigh Chen Sanders is convinced her mom turned into a bird after committing suicide. The bird is telling her to go to Taiwan, and after some convincing her, Leigh is able to go to Taiwan and meet her maternal grandparents for the first time. Finally able to explore her Taiwanese half of her family, Leigh struggles to come to grips with her mother ending her death and her not being home when it happened. Leigh was at her best friend Axel's house, on his couch, kissing him, when her mom decided to end her life. But now she's a bird, and keeps giving Leigh clues as to what her mother may have been hiding when she was alive.

If you want a more in depth review of this book from me, I have one posted Here.

Otherwise I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I got it as a Book of the Month pick in March, and kept hearing great things about it. It did take me a bit to connect with just because I, in general, go into art themed books with skepticism. And though it did have it's flaw's (I felt that the conflict between Leigh and her dad about her doing art for a living could have been resolved more in depth) I still enjoyed it. As well as the tension between her and Axel (though I feel this could have been pushed a little further as well) This book had be bawling by the last couple chapters.

4.5 out of 5 stars

This book completed the Transfiguration O.W.L for the Magical Read-a-thon

as well as challenge 20) A book rated 5 stars by at least one of your friends

Giant Days Vol 4 by John Allison

Published March 2017, by BOOM! Box

There's not much to tell about this one. It's a graphic novel about three young women in their first couple years in college as they go through out their drama, classes, sex lives, love lives, sexuality, etc... The series over all is visually pleasing, the drama is actually pretty humorous for the most part. I've ordered the next two volumes. It was just something quick to read between books.

4 out of 5 stars

The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K. Rowling

Published December 2008, by Arthur A. Levine Books

This is a collection of short stories by "Beedle the Bard" translated from runes by "Hermoine Granger" with commentary from "Albus Dumbledore"....over all by J.K. Rowling. These short stories are mentioned in the Harry Potter series, and are essentially children's bedtime stories that witches and wizards tell their children. 

I really enjoyed this. I had gotten this book a couple years ago in a white elephant gift exchange, and for some reason just didn't have the motivation to read it. The Magical Read-a-thon seemed perfect to finally pick it up and I thought it was adorable. My boyfriend had told me he had enjoyed the stories but not so much the commentary, I on the other hand loved everything. I enjoyed the stories, I thought they were fun, as well as Dumbledore's commentary, which explains some of the revisions made to the story to "better fit" the author's view points on magic, or why the stories were banned, etc...It was over a needed and much themed read for this month. I gave it 4 out of 5 stars, not for disliking anything in particular, it's just how I felt.

This book wasn't originally on my TBR for this month, but after adjusting Interview with the Vampire to complete the Care of Magical Creatures O.W.L I could easily put this book in for Charms" Read a fantasy. 

This book also completes challenge 2) A book from the first 10 books added to your To Be Read List. This book was actually number 1 on my Goodreads TBR, as I think I found Goodreads just after I finished or was in the middle of the Harry Potter series and had learned there were these smaller publications back in 2012. (Now my #1 is Fantastic Beasts and where to find them) 

And that is all for my Magical Read-a-thon/April Review

I'm sorry to say I will not be posting an April book haul, if you notice, I didn't post one for March as well, just cuz I think it's more of a hassle than it needs to be, an until a time I can figure out how to make it less of a pain I don't intend on doing it any more.

Thank you for joining me!

Until next time!

Litta

Tag Tuesday: The Harry Potter Spells Book Tag

Ugh I just want to do all the things right now! I'm jumping from project to project, to the point where I feel over whelmed and just sit and play Sims...cuz nothing says productivity after building my own house and trying to get a dysfunctional roommates to get along.

But I digress.

Today I have a book tag for you and with it being the last week of the Magical Readathon aka O.W.L's (my tbr found HERE) I figured it made sense to do a Harry Potter themed book tag.

The Harry Potter Spells Book Tag

I guess this tag was created by the blog Becoming Bookish however I was unable to find the proper post so I got my questions from One World, Too Many Pages blog.

Let's get started:

1. Expecto Patronum: A childhood book connected to good memories.

Tokyo Mew Mew by Mia Ikumi

Middle school is childhood right? I've mentioned this manga series before. I know that middle school years tend to be the cringiest to look back on, and indeed they are for me as well, but it's also the time I found some of my best friends that I still talk to 13 years later. I look back on this series fondly because I immediately think of getting to school early, finding our spot next to the heater in the library and reading this as well as several other manga series. If you're reading this Emily and Milly I love and miss you both!

2. Expelliarmus: A book that took you by surprise.

The Lonely Hearts Hotel by Heather O'Neill

When I think of surprising books this one comes to mind instantly. This was a total cover buy for me, I just happened to see it on a table in Barnes and Noble and decided I had to have it. I went into it thinking it was a Young Adult historical fiction/romance, though it is kind of....it's not young adult. I mean I'm not really for age restrictions, people mature differently but this book started out with immediate rape and continues with child rape, drug use, and abortion, it was a little intense. But beautiful. The magic realism of this book was fun and the whole book, despite it's heavy topics, was very poetic. I still think about it and it's been a little over a year since I read it.

3. Prior Incantato: The book you read last.

Giants Days Vol. 4 by John Allison

I'm really enjoying this graphic novel series. Esther, her aesthetic is inspiring and she's so dramatic that it's comedic, though that could be said with Susan and Daisy as well. This whole series is just fun.

4. Alohamora: A book that introduced you to a new genre.

American Gods by Neil Gaiman

This one was bound to come up at some point. But I was surprised I'm putting it to this prompt. This one was hard to think about. Mostly because I feel I don't really restrict myself from any genre, there may be a few that I don't reach for right away (thriller, horror, mystery) but I try not to limit myself. This one however, I feel, introduced me to Urban Fantasy, which given my love of magic realism, I feel, should have happened a while ago as they kind of go hand in hand. It's definitely a genre I'm looking more into.

5. Riddikulus: A funny book.

The Hitchhiker's Guide Through the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

I listened to this book via Audible a while back. I had originally watched the movie first, which I actually enjoyed, though I do have to say the book is much better. This book was over all a good laugh. This one could also work for the above, as I didn't gravitate towards Sci-fi much at all, and after reading this I started snagging galaxy exploration books left and right.

6. Sonorus: A book everyone should read

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

So this is where I thought American Gods was originally going to go, but I guess I'll talk about this one instead. No but really, this book was a fantastic read. It was unpredictable, educational, heartbreaking and heartwarming. SO MANY FEELS. It was just an eye opening book about a history I personally had never known about and biases and prejudices I was unaware of. I want everyone to read this book. 

7. Obliviate: A book you would like to forget having read.

Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige

So I seem to be the unpopular opinion on this one, I just couldn't get into it. I kept waiting for something good to come out of this book but ultimately it was a huge let down that read like fan-fiction. Not to say that I regret reading it, as I obviously like to trash talk this book, and with out reading it I would have never known my dislike for it and probably would have picked up anyway. I just feel I could have used my time better.

8. Imperio: A book you had to read for school.

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

In all honesty this is the only one I can remember having been assigned to read and actually reading it. I actually really enjoyed it to the point where I bought my own copy, re-read it before re-reading the Harry Potter Series, in fact I'm pretty sure I re-read this book before I even read Harry Potter. I'm debating on getting the recently released graphic novel version. 

9. Crucio: A book that was painful to read.

Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire

This one pains me in many ways. The first being that when reading it, it was just cringe after cringe of incidenences that were god awful. This book came out the day after Fifty Shades of Grey, and both books are on the top of a Goodreads list titles "Best Book Boyfriends." My heart! It hurts! NO! Both books are terrible horrible examples of how a man should behave towards a woman or how anyone should behave towards anyone they proclaim to "love" no matter your sexuality or gender! Stalking, possessive, obsessive, violent, temperamental, threatening behaviors that are PROMOTED rather than learned from. Just...fucking...NO! I don't understand how this one is rated so highly on Goodreads, I just...can't. ugh! 

10.  Avada Kedavra: A book that could kill

It by Stephen King

Not from reading it, I have yet to do so, but I've seen the original movie. No I mean I could physically kill someone by chucking this book at their head. I have a hard back version printed back in 1987, though by the looks of the new ones, even the paper backs could kill if you aim right.

And that was the Harry Potter Spells Book Tag! 

If you've answered these in your own blog or youtube video, link them down below, would love to see what your answers are.

If you'd like to follow me on any other platform the link are in the bar on the right,

Until next time!

Litta

The Astonishing Color of After Review

Wasn't sure what book I'd be able to do April's Review with but after finishing this one, I just had so many thoughts I wanted to talk about, it seemed like the easiest choice.

The Astonishing Color of After by Emily X.R. Pan

This book was published March of 2018 by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers and is 472 pages long.

This book follows Leigh Chen Sanders, half Taiwanese, half Irish American Caucasian, high school girl who is trying to sort out her feelings for her best friend Axel. When one day Leigh and Axel kiss for the first time, Leigh's mother committed suicide simultaneously. Trying to manage her grief and guilt for not being home, Leigh is convinced that her mother is now a bird. Leigh travels to Taiwan to meet her maternal grandparents and to track down the bird.

This book... made me cry so hard at 2 in the morning, I just grabbed a towel and let it all out. It was actually a pretty easy and interesting read and wasn't hard for me to get into, but I had a hard time connecting with Leigh in the first half. One thing with books about art, as much as I enjoy reading about them, I also get really defensive and protective of art as a profession. So I was a little skeptical going in, because, I feel, it's all too easy to make things sound unbelievable and over the top. Jenn Bennett's The Anatomical Shape of a Heart (or The Night Bus for those outside the U.S.) I thought had good art representation until the last few chapters felt unrealistic, in my own experience and opinion.

Aside from that, the topics in this book were heavy hitting for me. I started this book just before I went into a Suicide Prevention training for two days. I have a relative who has tried multiple times to take their own life, so the suicide aspect of this was tough to get through, but I over all thought it was well represented in terms of an "outsider" perspective, as in, not in the mind set of the person wanting to commit suicide, but of those still affected and effected by the possible results, no matter the verity. Does that make sense?  Something touched upon in the book and in an author's note was: blame- Leigh blamed herself, Leigh's dad blamed himself, both of them kept trying to find a reason why she did what she did and were hurt they couldn't be the ones to make Dory (Leigh's mom) happy, when in reality they could have done everything and anything and the results could still be Dory ending her life. We cannot blame ourselves or others. Emily touches on this a bit saying that there was no specific reason to why Dory took her own life. More times than not that's something a lot of people who know or were close to victims of suicide can get. Unfortunately that's something we have to accept. The fact that Leigh and Brian (Leigh's dad) communicated this (eventually) helped their relationship, as through out most the book their relationship was trained due to wanting to struggle privately. Which I'm sure doesn't work for everyone, but I enjoy a book that offers communication as a valid solution.

Another topic that this book touched on was mixed blood. Leigh is half Taiwanese and half white (Irish, European Caucasian) and it's pointed out when she's in the states as well as in Taiwan. There was a quote I absolutely loved that Leigh had said after she get's called "exotic": "...People think it's a compliment, but it makes me feel like an animal in a zoo." YES! Thank you. Interestingly enough it made me check myself as well. I remember having to explain to a group of students why I felt "exotic" was an insult rather than a compliment and my reasoning was "I feel like 'exotic' is like a foreign flower or something, if you're from the Carribean you're "exotic" or some place tropical. I'm Native American. I'm not 'exotic.' my tribe and my family are from here." It was a frustrating moment, but this quote coming from Emily's book made me check myself and think that even if you or your family is from a tropical place, you still probably don't like being called "exotic." Through out the book Leigh's mixed blood is pointed out in the States as well as when she get's to Taiwan, when children openly call her a foreigner and mixed blood, because although she has some features of her mother that are Taiwanese, she also has lighter hair and light eyes due to her father's genes. So there's this struggle with Leigh in fitting in, which I feel is a constant struggle with anyone who is trying to live in today's "colonized" society predominately focused on the success of Caucasian people, and those who still want to practice their culture, whether through cuisine, holidays, dances, etc... which today's society is still finding hard to accept and not judge on.

And finally the last topic I'd like to talk about that was in this book was art as a profession. This was the topic that kept the tension on Leigh and her father, Brian's relationship. As Leigh loved art and spent a lot of her time sketching, while Brian felt that though she was talented, it was ultimately a waste of time and Leigh needed to pick something more "practical" to send her time. Through out the book it goes from Brian thinking that art is just a "hobby" Leigh spends too much time on to him trying to convince her that there's no money in it if you're not good or lucky. With this comes Leigh's frustration and her struggle to prove him wrong but wanting to make it into a profession. Every time Leigh and Brian had an argument about this, my own anger and frustration would rise, as I had to same issue when picking my college major. I was told there's no money in art, that if I was going to do art I needed to do something else so that I wouldn't become a "starving artist." I tried. I did. I tried culinary art but didn't like how intense it could be. I tried combining art with the sciences: First Psychology thinking I'd do art therapy, until my psychology professor pulled me aside and said that I'd be great, if I had the patience for people, which at the time I didn't. Marine Biology, I wanted to be a scientific illustrator and picked my University based on that after graduating from my community college, only to realize how much of a work load Marine Biology was, and with a limit on Financial Aid help, my fear of going into debt with loans, and that fact I couldn't pass Botany, I stuck with art. Knowing I was good at it, and wanting to get better. It wasn't until my junior year of University that those who didn't want me strictly taking art realized how much art goes into everyday life, and that there is a need for artists everywhere. Which is what I kind of wanted to shout at Brian, and wish it was resolved better than him just accepting his daughter is talented and stubborn. I wanted that resolve to be more convincing. In my case it wasn't resolved until they realized that art is all around you: magazine covers, product labeling, advertising, book covers, movies, etc... I wanted to resolve for this with Leigh and Brian to be more than just him going "yeah ok, it's your passion. I support you now." I don't find it helpful and feel like Leigh will still need to have resolve it later in life if she does continue to pursue art professionally.

Alright, otherwise this was a great book with a great focus, I also loved the tension between Leigh and Axel, though I didn't think all aspects of that were resolved either.

I gave this book 4.5 out of 5 stars. One of my favorite for the year so far.

If you've read this book and would like to discuss comment below! I would love to hear your thoughts. Or if you wanna follow me on any other platform my links or in the bar on the right.

Until next time!

Litta

Top 5 Wednesday: Ideal Mashups!

Well hello there!

It's been a bit.

With spring comes sun, with sun comes cabin fever and an itch to do something productive. Unfortunately it doesn't look like I'm being productive in any way due to putting myself in the middle of many projects. A little here, a little there, and although I'm exhausted and it feels like I did a lot, the results may vary due to none of them being done.

Anyway...I'm almost done with Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice. I'm ultimately enjoying it, but I feel the narrator has too much of a "typical" Dracula voice (I'm listening to this book) which is a little distracting. I'm also in the middle of  Brisingr by Christopher Paolini, also enjoying it but we've gone my to Du Farthen (SP?) ....the mountains of the Dwarves, and I have a hard time imagining that area so it becomes a little irritating to read during this time. And finally, I'm in the middle of The Astonishing Color of After by Emily X.R. Pan which I'm enjoying but I'm finding myself enjoying more parts than others, as well as finding it hard to connect with Leigh. Her deal with Axel irritates me. Quit breaking the no bullshit rule Leigh!

Today is a Top 5 Wednesday and today's theme is Ideal Mashups. And the idea behind this is books you often see promoted as "The ideal book for fans of Harry Potter and Games of Thrones" some movies have this too where the announcer goes: "from the director you brought you John Wick and by the producers who brought you Charlie and the Chocolate Factory! This summer, take the trip of your life with...." I mean some of us know who directs and who produces movies, but when they say stuff like that I immediately think of the movies they gave as examples and try to mash them up. That's pretty much what we're doing today. If a book had a an ideal mash up to promote to you, what would it contain to get you to pick it up? We can also use TV shows, movies and games.

This is in no particular order. And if some of these sound like books that are already published...link them down below!

1. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movie) Directed by David Yates and An Enchantment of Ravens by Margaret Rogerson

Bare with me here. Both of these I really enjoyed as their separate entities. Fantastic Beasts was fun and humorous and was over all a great jumping point for the series, but it lacked the wonderment that the Harry Potter movies had brought me, while Enchantment of Ravens had the wonderment and fantastical elements to it, as well as a romance that can be debated on being "insta-love" but it didn't have much depth to it, I wanted more to it. Both have interesting creatures, shape-shifting and the possibility of it's audiences to fall in love with the characters as they possibly fall in love with each other in a slow burn romance that would mostly be a side plot to an otherwise epic adventure SERIES filled with magical creatures, an enchanting environment, and epic villains.

2. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman and Constantine (movie) Directed by Francis Lawrence

In thinking about these two, they aren't too far off from one another really. I just wanted a bit more action from The Graveyard Book. At first I was thinking The Matrix but as I went to describe why I realized it was pretty much Constantine. Paranormal meets paranormal as a boy with murdered parents is raised by ghosts, realizing he can "see" not only the ghosts but other beings, other living beings aren't able to see, as well, he realizes there's a danger in the world outside of the graveyard. 

3. Practical Magic (movie) directed by Griffin Dune and The Big Bang Theory (TV show) created by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady

So if you're like me you kind of start thinking Sabrina the Teenage Witch, and yeah kind of the same idea in that witches/wizards try to live a somewhat "normal" life for whatever that maybe having "normal" jobs who happen to have magical abilities and live next door to each other in an apartment complex in a big city. A little nerdy, a little magic, and super funny and full of ridiculous antics as they 1-figure out they're all witches/wizards, 2- work in fields that are in tune with their abilities yet they have to keep the abilities secret, 3- try to deal with each others...quirks in living with each other. They don't all have to be witches/wizards, throw in a vampire or a werewolf? Have fun with it!

4. The Hunger Games By Suzanne Collins and Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake

So I'm trying to think of how to explain this. I enjoyed both of these books, but I thought Three Dark Crowns was going to be more like The Hunger Games in terms of "Fighting to the death" type of deal. Now perhaps it is, I have yet to read One Dark Throne, but my want from this is less political alignment more killing attempts in a location on the island sectioned off for the Queens to be. I though it was going to be more action packed. They could still have the lack of powers in two sisters and they could still use their knowledge to try and defeat their third sister. I really liked the idea of  Three Dark Crowns but I remember how intense it was reading the arena section of The Hunger Games and that's what I was hoping for and still want.

5. The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill and Bioshock (Video Game) Developed by 2k Boston and 2k Australia

With this I basically want an origin story for Bioshock. Who was the first one to find ADAM? Who were the first people they tested it on? What were their abilities after ADAM was administered? Like that but you know it was headed by an older woman and for some reason she tested it on "orphaned" surface kids she thought no one would care about and once in contact with ADAM would give the kids to a family who were researchers to observe the kids that eventually bring the downfall to the Utopia there in creating something for the rest of the series as those at the Surface figure out something was going on with the underwater utopia.

Now I just want these books to be made....someone write them. Or link them below if it's been done....please. 

Alright, if you have similar mash-ups let me know! or if you want to chit chat and expand on some of these ideas, let's do it! 

Until next time!

Litta