September is For Sequels 2/3 Update

Yesterday marked the official 2/3-of-the-way-done mark for the September is For Sequels Challenge, so I thought I'd give a quick update. I honestly give myself too much credit when I sign up for these challenges... It's been 20 days and I've only read one sequel (and only two books total) this whole month. I've just started another sequel, but nonetheless I had much higher expectations for myself.

I need to learn that when I sign up to read 8 books for challenges of any length it's just not going to happen... 8 has pretty much been my goal for every reading challenge I've participated in and I've never read more than half of that by the end of the challenges.

Finished:

Currently Reading:

Are you participating in the September is for Sequels Challenge? How are you doing so far?

~ Alexandra

UPDATED DISCUSSION: Final Thoughts of a First-Time Rereader

In June, I tried to reread Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas and ended up putting aside the reread. I wrote a post about rereading and my thoughts as a first-time rereader, which you can view here. Although my fears have remained the same (see below), my thoughts so far have vastly changed since I first tried rereading the book. Now that I am almost done rereading Throne of Glass, I thought I would share my final thoughts on my rereading experience.

The Main Reasons I Don't Reread:

1) I already know what happens so it is not as exciting and interesting
2) I am worried that I will not feel the same way about the book the second/third/fourth/etc. time around
3) See #2 except applied to my feelings/opinions about the characters
4) I have an overwhelming TBR as it is and it is a "waste of time" (for lack of a better term) to read something I've already read when I can read something new
5) After reading it the first time, I may have discovered a book/books that I liked better (so when I reread it, I will not enjoy it as much as the first time around/it will pale in comparison to other reads

FINAL THOUGHTS ON REREADING:

The first time I tried rereading Throne of Glass, I had just finished A Court of Thorns and Roses, and was still in a bit of a book hangover. Picking up Throne of Glass for my second attempt at rereading only seemed logical because Queen of Shadows was coming out and I needed to catch up. Anyway, my view on rereading (and my view of Throne of Glass) has greatly changed. I guess I'll address my feelings toward reareading Throne of Glass by addressing the 5 main reasons I don't reread.

1. I read Throne of Glass for the first time back when it came out THREE YEARS AGO. So my main reason for not rereading was completely invalid. I thought I remembered what happened, but it turns out I only knew the very basic plot, and completely forgot about some major details. If I tried to read the second and third books before rereading Throne of Glass, I think I would have truly been lost. Or at least a little lost.

2. I don't feel the same way about Throne of Glass. Except unlike what I thought, I actually like it better. I am definitely more engrossed and seem to be enjoying the book more than when I read it back in 2012.

3. In addition to not feeling the same way about the book and story in general, my feelings have changed slightly toward the characters. I used to absolutely HATE Chaol with a burning passion, and although I am still not keen about his existence, this hate has begun to diminish. (Let's see how long that lasts though.) I have yet to decide whether this is a good or bad thing.

4. Most of my TBR consists of series, so I guess it isn't a waste of time to reread a book in order to catch up on the rest of the series and essentially eliminate books from my TBR. Also, I guess it's not a waste of time if you reread a book you like/love because you know you'll enjoy it, rather than a book that may only be okay... To be honest, I'm not sure if this reason to not reread should be valid.

5. It's hard to say if this one is applicable or not because Throne of Glass was never my all-time favorite book to begin with. I enjoy it very much, but it has never been at the very top for me. Also, I'm in the midst of reading a bunch of assigned reading books, so I'm obviously (?) not going to enjoy those as much as books that I can choose for myself, such as Throne of Glass.

~Alexandra

Beat the Heat Readathon - (Brief) Week 1 Update

The first week of the Beat the Heat Readathon is finally over! And so far, I am very behind. If I were to add the number of pages I've read total, it would be approximately equivalent to one very short book, but I have been juggling four different books the past week, and have yet to finish any of them.  Here's how I did so far:

54 pages of Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
17 pages of West with the Night by Beryl Markham
140 pages of Mystic River by Dennis Lehane
20 pages of Throne of Glass
_______
231 pages read
no books completed
2 mini-challenges attempted but incomplete

I absolutely have to finish WWTN and MR (for assignments), and I really want to finish Throne of Glass, Crown of Midnight (book 2), and Heir of Fire (book 3) since the fourth book releases tomorrow, so hopefully I will have completed at least 5 books by the end of this readathon. Although it is not as much as I hoped, it is still a decent amount for a two week readathon.

~Alexandra

P.S. General blog statement -- I am currently editing a discussion post that should be up by tomorrow or Wednesday!

Beat the Heat Readathon Updates!

And so the craziness begins...

As a reminder, my goals for this readathon are as follows:

- read 7-9 books total

- read at least one classic

- participate in a few mini-challenges

WEEK 1:

Day 1: Monday, August 24
Currently Reading: ---
Progress: ---

Day 2: Tuesday, August 25
Currently Reading: Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
Progress: read 54 pages

Day 3: Wednesday, August 26
Currently Reading: Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
Progress: ---

Day 4: Thursday, August 27
Currently Reading: Shadow and Bone, West with the Night by Beryl Markham
Progress: read 16 pages of WWTN

Day 5: Friday, August 28
Currently Reading: Shadow and Bone, West with the Night
Progress: ---

Day 6: Saturday, August 29
Currently Reading: Shadow and Bone, West with the Night, Mystic River by Dennis Lehane
Progress: read 140 pages of MR

Day 7: Sunday, August 30
Currently Reading: Shadow and Bone, West with the Night, Mystic River, Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas
Progress: read 20 pages of ToG

WEEK 2:

Day 8: Monday, August 31
Currently Reading: Shadow and Bone, West with the Night, Mystic River, Throne of Glass
Progress:  read 100 more pages of ToG, read 152 pages of MR

Day 9: Tuesday, September 1
Currently Reading: Shadow and Bone, West with the Night, Throne of Glass
Progress: finished Mystic River (read 168 pages), read 29 pages of WWTN

Day 10: Wednesday, September 2
Currently Reading: Shadow and Bone, West with the Night, Throne of Glass
Progress: read 80 pages of ToG, read 21 pages of WWTN

Day 11: Thursday, September 3
Currently Reading: Shadow and Bone, West with the Night, Throne of Glass
Progress:  read 12 pages of ToG, read 70 pages of WWTN

Day 12: Friday, September 4
Currently Reading: Shadow and Bone, West with the Night, Throne of Glass
Progress: read 128 pages of WWTN

Day 13: Saturday, September 5
Currently Reading: Shadow and Bone, Throne of Glass
Progress: finished West with the Night (read 30 pages), read 161 pages of ToG

Day 14: Sunday, September 6
Currently Reading: Shadow and Bone, Crown of Midnight
Progress: finished Throne of Glass (read 35 pages), 

~Alexandra

Quick Update + Mini Haul

Hi guys!  So I have been super busy (again), and haven't had a lot of time to read or post very much, so I really do apologize.  But I am so excited because I got a few books and things this week that I can't wait to read now that I have some more time on my hands.  I thought I would share just because I am so excited!!! (And I will hopefully be posting more reviews, discussions, and random other bookish things within the next few weeks.)

~ HAUL TIME ~

eBooks:

Wait… WHAT?!?

Oh my gosh.  I never thought I'd be this excited to talk about eBooks, but I am right now.  In fact, I'm usually not a huge fan of eBooks, but I was so excited when I found out these books were FREE.  Guys, this is a huge deal.  I usually download tons of free books because, well, they're free.  But I rarely ever find books I'd been wanting to read for free.  (In fact, I rarely ever read the books I download for free.  There are too many books out there that still need to be read.)  Anyway, I know I'm definitely going to read these though.  These books are Queen of Someday by Sherry D. Ficklin, which I've heard such great things about (and have been dying to read!) and Insanity by Cameron Jace, which is an Alice in Wonderland retelling (and I am a sucker for Alice in Wonderland retellings).

Physical Books:

I only bought one physical book, but if you know me, I love a good steampunk novel.  I have yet to read an Andrea Cremer book, but I saw the gorgeous cover in the store (and read the synopsis on Goodreads), and I just knew I had to have The Inventor's Secret.  So far, my feelings in general toward steampunk are 50/50, but I've only read two steampunk series, so I'm hoping this one is another good one.  (Oh and not that it matters, but the cogs on the girl's collar on the cover are metallic and shiny in real life and I'm also kind of attracted to shiny things.  Just saying.)

Comics and Manga

I know I didn't have to wait that long, but I am so excited that this finally came out!  I'm pretty sure I shared how I was wary about this new series, but was pleasantly surprised by the revamp, so I am really hoping that the second issue is just as good as the first!

--

In terms of manga, I picked up one volume of a manga I just happened to stumble upon.  The premise seemed promising so I thought I'd give it a go, and hopefully it will deliver.  (The main characters are twins and the boy twin wants his sister to go to his all-boys school and trade places with him because he's failing a class.  Or something like that.)  I think if it's executed right, the story will be absolutely hilarious and fun!

~Alexandra