Belinda’s Book Nook: Top Ten Tuesday – 2014 Releases I Meant To Read But Didn’t Get To

January 13, 2015 by 8 Comments

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by The Broke and The Bookish. Every week they post a new topic/top ten list and invite everyone to share their own answers.

Now when I saw the topic for this week’s Top Ten, I sadly realized not only could I pick 10 books but that I probably own and haven’t read them. And yes, after compiling this list, I found that it was true. So here are 10 books that I presently own in physical or ebook format that came out in 2014 and I didn’t get around to reading and if you want a description, click on the cover or the title and it will take you to GoodReads with all the information:

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1. A House in the Sky by Amanda Lindhout and Sara Corbett

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2. Belle: The Slave Daughter and the Lord Chief Justice by Paula Byrne

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3. Til’ the Well Runs Dry by Lauren Francis-Sharma

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4. A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki

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5. Boy Snow Bird by Helen Oyeyemi

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6. The Glass Sentence (The Mapmaker’s Trilogy #1) by S.E. Grove

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7. The Happiness of Pursuit: Finding the Quest that will Bring Purpose to your Life by Chris guillebeau

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8. The Promise of a Pencil by Adam Braun

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9. The Queen of the Tearling by Erika Johansen

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10. Radiance of Tomorrow by Ishmael Beah

Well there’s my list. Are there any books you wanted read that came out in 2014 and never got to them?

Happy reading my friends!

Belinda

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Belinda’s Book Nook: 2015 Reading Resolutions

January 5, 2015 by 2 Comments
  • Read a total of 34 books.Last year, I had a goal on Good Reads to read 24 books. Which I think is a lot for me. I read slow and I have a lot going on. So an average of 2 books a month seemed a good effort. Well I actually surpassed that goal and read 33 books.  What I don’t want to do is to make this fun time a chore so I am not going to go too crazy on the number because I feel the experience of a book should be cherished.  So I will raise the number by one for this year. If I meet it – Yeah! If I don’t – no worries. Just grateful to be able to read.
  • Read 12 non-fiction books. Looking at last year, I explored new genres and didn’t do as much historical fiction and non-fiction as I would have liked. So this year, I would like to challenge myself to read more non-fiction.
  • Complete four series: 

The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer – Loved the first three books. Waiting for Fairest to be released this month.

The Bronze Horseman by Paullina Simons – I own these books but never read them. Hoping to jump into them this year.

Firebird (Slain Series) by Susanna Kearsley – I can’t say enough good things about Susanna Kearsley. Just love her books. Firebird is the second in the series. Not sure how many more but I’ll be there.

Century Trilogy by Ken Follett – Talk about big book intimidation. This one is it. I have wanted to read this trilogy for some time now. I plan to read it on my Nook because I think I might experience carpal tunnel holding that big hunk of book.

  • Read at least 3 debut novels. I can’t say that I rush to get many books when they are first released. I mean let’s face it, new books are very expensive.  But I did do it once last year and really enjoyed it so I will carefully select 3 this year to read.
  • Write at least 6 discussion posts in 2015. Now that I have restructured my website to have a dedicated link to my Book Nook, I can really share more. So I am excited about the possibilities and hope you will join me on this adventure.
  • Leave 2 comments per week on other book blogger sites. Listen, I am notorious for book blog peeping. I love reading them. I enjoy hearing other people share their love of books online. But I rarely and I mean rarely post a comment.  That’s definitely going to change this year.
  • Read at least 3 spiritual books. I am, officially, a collector of spiritual books. I just want them. But now I’m going to read them. Not to say I haven’t read any but the number of unread is larger. So this year, I am going to get my read on and make it happen.
  • Read at least 3 books by African authors. Another thing I do is collect a lot of books by African Americans and African authors but haven’t read nearly as much as I have. Changing that this year!
  • Read at least 1 classic books. I could go on a tangent about what classifies a book as a classic but I wont (for now) and just say, I have a few and I’m going to read at least one.
  • Read a book that is set in a country from each of the 7 continents (Asia, North American, South America, Europe, Africa, Antartica, Australia). This will be fun. I am already a member of a group in Good Reads called Around the World in 80 Books and I plan on using their extensive list to help me locate books in regions I typically don’t have.

So that is list of reading resolutions for 2015. Do you have any?

Happy reading!

Belinda

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Belinda’s Book Nook Review: A Thousand Pieces of You by Claudia Gray

November 21, 2014 by Leave a Comment

 

Athousandpiecesofyou

Title: A Thousand Pieces of You
Author: Claudia Gray
Copyright: November 4, 2014
Genre: science fiction, young adult
Format: paperback Pages: 357

Synopsis (from Goodreads):

Every Day meets Cloud Atlas in this heart-racing, space- and time-bending, epic new trilogy from New York Times bestselling author Claudia Gray.

Marguerite Caine’s physicist parents are known for their radical scientific achievements. Their most astonishing invention: the Firebird, which allows users to jump into parallel universes, some vastly altered from our own. But when Marguerite’s father is murdered, the killer—her parent’s handsome and enigmatic assistant Paul—escapes into another dimension before the law can touch him.

Marguerite can’t let the man who destroyed her family go free, and she races after Paul through different universes, where their lives entangle in increasingly familiar ways. With each encounter she begins to question Paul’s guilt—and her own heart. Soon she discovers the truth behind her father’s death is more sinister than she ever could have imagined.

A Thousand Pieces of You explores a reality where we witness the countless other lives we might lead in an amazingly intricate multiverse, and ask whether, amid infinite possibilities, one love can endure. 

My Thoughts on A Thousand Pieces of You:

Last night I finished reading A Thousand Pieces of You By Claudia Gray.

I meant to go to bed but you know when your almost done, you just have to see it through.  Waiting another day seemed cruel. So I stayed up and finished it.

This is my first Claudia Gray book although I currently own one other of her books but never read it.

I would classify this book as a Young Adult Science fiction. It was a light science fiction so for people who don’t particularly jump for joy at that genre, I think this would be a pleasant read.  It’s premise is around dimensional travel not to be confused with time travel.  For example, there are dimensions that run simultaneously with ours and in many there are other versions of us that exists.  Sounds a little crazy but I liked thinking about it while reading the story.

I enjoyed reading about the different dimensions and different versions of the main character, Marguerite. In one, she was a grand duchess in Russia. Of course there was a love triangle and I found myself routing for one guy over the other. But it wasn’t a lot of romance just enough to keep me pleased.

After getting about half way through this book, I realized it is a trilogy and this is the first which means I will be anxiously waiting a while.  I typically like to read trilogies either after all have been written or the final is coming very soon.  So a bit frustrated because I like to read them back to back.

I felt the pacing was good and really picked up about half way in and then I just wanted to plow through and see where it went. I like when that happens, getting pulled into the story.

Quotes on Love:

“I meant it when I said I didn’t believe in love at first sight. It takes time to really fall for someone.Yet I believe in a moment. A moment when you glimpse the truth within someone, and they glimpse the truth  within you. In that moment, you don’t belong to yourself any longer, not completely. Part of you belongs to him; part of him belongs to you…”

“Every me loves every you…”

I would definitely recommend reading the book but if you are like me, wait until they at least release book 2 so you don’t have to wait long.

I gave this book 4 butterflies.

4ratingA

Happy reading my friends!

Belinda

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Belinda’s Book Nook Review: The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey

October 22, 2014 by Leave a Comment

The5thWave

Title: The 5th Wave
Author: Rick Yancey
Copyright: May 7, 2013
Genre: fiction, science fiction
Format: ebook Pages: 497

Synopsis (from Goodreads):

After the 1st wave, only darkness remains. After the 2nd, only the lucky escape. And after the 3rd, only the unlucky survive. After the 4th wave, only one rule applies: trust no one.

Now, it’s the dawn of the 5th wave, and on a lonely stretch of highway, Cassie runs from Them. The beings who only look human, who roam the countryside killing anyone they see. Who have scattered Earth’s last survivors. To stay alone is to stay alive, Cassie believes, until she meets Evan Walker.

Beguiling and mysterious, Evan Walker may be Cassie’s only hope for rescuing her brother—or even saving herself. But Cassie must choose: between trust and despair, between defiance and surrender, between life and death. To give up or to get up.

My Thoughts on The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey:

I kept on hearing about this book on book tube and thought that I might need to see what the fuss was about. First, I would like to say that I think of myself as a big fan of science fiction. I love finding science fiction movies to watch. I especially love to see a team work together to solve/overcome problems. I enjoyed movies like, Mission to Mars, Aliens, Terminator and many more. Last night, I just watched the movie, “After Earth” starring Will Smith and his son. I thought it was good too.  I like the ideas of science fiction writers and I love the mystery and thrills I get thinking of the possibilities.

So when I heard about this book and it came available on my library’s Overdrive system. I took it out and began the journey with Cassie the main character as she experienced each “wave” of the Others'(alien) invasion.  I really enjoyed how the author made you wait to find out what exactly what was going on and who the aliens/others were. It made me think about what we would do if we were invaded in such a way. And that is the thing I love most about science fiction is it tickles my curiosity and a lot of ‘what ifs’ find there way into my mind.

I felt the pacing of book was nice and he used multiple narrators to give you multiple perspectives which carried the book along nicely while filling in the pieces to the mystery. I found myself moving through this book very fast and when he would switch narrators it would be at the precise moment something momentous was happening and I felt compelled to keep reading.

I liked Cassie as the strong female lead at times I struggle with her strength at such a young age but then Yancey would incorporate some indecisiveness that I feel was appropriate for a girl her age and appeared more realistic.

There was some romance and at times a little cheesy but not enough to take away from the story. I do enjoy a little romance in stories and I think it was overall fine in this book.

I stayed up to finish this book and look forward to reading book two which was just released this September. I am not sure if this is a trilogy but I definitely enjoyed book one and look forward to reading the next book in the series called, “The Infinite Sea”.

This was a good size book but I went through it so fast which means it took me on the journey and I love that.

For these reasons, I gave this book 5 butterflies.

5ratingHappy Reading!

Belinda

 

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