Friday 21 November 2014

The TBR Tag





I wasn't actually tagged to do this by anyone but I thought it was a really good tag so I thought I'd do it anyway. It was created by Dana Square & A Perfection Called Books



How do you keep track of your TBR pile?

Honestly, I don't. My bookshelf is small and the amount of books I have is rapidly growing at a rate I can barely keep up with (and shamefully, I keep buying more books) so when it comes to my TBR books, they're just muddled in with the rest of my books, hoping I'll remember and eventually get to them. 

Is your TBR mostly print or ebook?

Print. I have a few books on my iPad but these are mostly books I just bought on a whim when if they were free or really cheap and frankly, I just prefer the feeling on holding a print book in my hands and the satisfaction of turning each page.  

How do you determine what to read next?

It's usually just what I feel like reading at the time. Most often it's a new book I've bought that I'll just read straight away or just a random book that I've had a while and need to read.


A book that's been on your TBR the longest:


Gone Girl. A supermarket near where I live had 2 for £7 deal on books and I wanted to buy a book that I'd wanted for a while (I cant even remember what the other book was now) so I just randomly picked Gone Girl, not having a clue what it was about and to be honest, I've never had any interest in reading it. It wasn't until the film came out recently that I actually thought "I need to read that soon" but never did.

A book you recently added to your TBR:

Love, Rosie. I bought this recently as I have started to really like Cecelia Ahern's books and with the film to it recently been released I just couldn't resist


A book on your TBR because of it's beautiful cover:


A Thousand Pieces of You. The cover is gorgeous!!! I've also heard so many good things about this book so I couldn't resist buying it and having it in my possession to enjoy. 

A book on your TBR you never plan on reading:

Again, probably Gone Girl. Upon recommendation from a friend who loves the cinema more than anyone I've ever met, I went to see it BEFORE reading the book (shock horror) and since I didn't actually particularly like the film, I now have even less interest in reading the book than I did before.


An unpublished book on your TBR that you're excited for:


AHH. There's so many, seriously my preorder list on Amazon is so long. The one I'm most excited for though is probably The Proof of Forever. I love cute contemporary reads and I feel that this one won't fail to impress me.

A book on your TBR that basically everyone's read but you:

The Book Thief. I feel that everyone and their dog has read this book. I'm actually quite ashamed that I haven't yet. I only recently bought it and I just haven't gotten around to reading it yet due to reading other books, I have been wanting to read it for so long though.

A book on your TBR that everyone recommends to you:

In this case, "everyone" means bookbloggers or booktubers because I'll be honest, where else do I get book recommendations from? I think the only book on my TBR that a lot of people have recommended is The Maze Runner. So many people have said how good this series is so when I was in Costco recently, I bought the whole set.

A book on your TBR you're dying to read:

If I stay. I have been wanting to read this book and it's sequel for so long and only in the past few weeks have I actually bought them. They are next on my mental "I need to read that" list and I can't wait to get to them. They are both only short so hopefully I'll be able to fly through them soon.


How many books are on your Goodreads TBR shelf?

I currently have 35 books on my Goodreads TBR shelf, this is partly because I don't really use Goodreads all that much. I'll put that I've read a book and give a book I've read a star rating or look at reviews for a book I've not heard about but that's about it. I don't utilise all it's features. 

I'm going to TAG anyone who also wants to do this.
What's on your TBR pile?


Wednesday 19 November 2014

BOOK REVIEW

The Year I Met You
                     Cecelia Ahern

PUBLISHER: Harper Collins
GENRE: Contemporary
PAGES: 328
SOURCE: Waterstones/Amazon





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Firstly, I feel like I need to address the two star rating, probably more of a 2.5 as I didn't particularly like it but it was more than just ok. When I initially read what this book was about, I thought it would be about the whirlwind love story of Jasmine and Matt spread over the year. It wasn't that at all. *SPOILER ALERT* They never even kiss, not even once. It wasn't anything amazing and I felt that I wasn't drawn into the story and could quite easily put it down and leave it for a few days then come back to it, at times I felt like I had to force myself just to get to end so I can move onto another book. The story line was just boring, Well written, but boring. I didn't feel engaged at all and couldn't connect to the characters at all, I just felt like I was reading the rambling thoughts of a 30 something year old woman.

Despite this, I did feel that Cecilia Ahern did integrate real life and family issues into the story well, it was realistic in the sense that the troubles that Jasmine was going through are things that many people deal with in everyday life. Troubled relationships with parents, job loss, having trouble finding a purpose in life, I liked the metaphors that Ahern used throughout the book comparing Jasmine's life to gardening. 

I was so disappointed at this book, I did enjoy the last 40ish pages of the book as well as odd chapters or "scenes" of the book as some were funny, such as the interaction between Jasmine and Matt and I felt that the conclusion of the story was really good and enjoyable, and left me feeling satisfied, I just felt that on the whole the book wasn't all that good which is a shame as I have enjoyed some of Ahern's other books.

Have you read the book? What's your opinion?