November book haul of ragrets

I may have gone a little overboard with the book-buying this month.
Okay, maybe a lot overboard. Still, no regrets!

I hadn't bought a single book in the month of October, unless you count We All Looked Up, which was a belated birthday present from one of my secondary school best friends. I guess that makes my November purchases acceptable? :p

A closer look at the books, and where I got them...

The Book Fair at @ Big Box Jurong East
I didn't even get to spend much time here because I was with my other half and he kept rushing me (": It was also pretty late by the time we got there anyway.

1. Bird Box / Josh Malerman (the first book I caught when I walked in)
2. The Bees / Laline Paull (a Dystopian novel about bees.)
3. Even In Paradise / Chelsea Phillpot
4. The Ocean At The End Of The Lane / Neil Gaiman
Total bill: SGD30.00 

Binge book-buying at Kinokuniya @ Bugis
Got half day off from work, so I decided to go Kino for a while..... and ended up being in there for 1.5 hours. Hah.

5. The Storied Life Of AJ Fikry / Gabrielle Zevin
6. Horrorstor / Grady Zendrix
7. Sophie's World / Jostein Gaarder
8. How To Make A Friend / Fleur Smithwick
Total bill: SGD68.00

MPH Bookfair @ Expo
I was extremely lucky to have known about this bookfair. Exactly the night before its last day, I randomly Googled book fairs in November and this one showed up! Just nice, I had that Sunday off too!

9. Carrie / Stephen King
10. I've Got Your Number / Sophie Kinsella
11. Can You Keep A Secret? / Sophie Kinsella (I have never read Sophie Kinsella before, but I heard they were light and funny and I'm in the mood for that ^_^)
12. The Call Of The Wild / Jack London
13. Assault With A Deadly Glue Gun / Lois Winston
14. The Body In The Library / Agatha Christie
15. The Bookseller / Cynthia Swanson
Total bill: SGD36.00

Retail therapeutic trip to Times @ Tampines
Kind of last minute, and had gone there with the intention of getting certain books, but left with completely different ones, hah. Also spent close to 2 hours in the store (":

16. One Last Thing Before I Go / Jonathan Tropper
17. Invisible Monsters / Chuck Palahniuk
18. Only Ever Yours / Louis O'Neill
Total bill: SGD55.00

And then another trip to Times 2 days later, with my mom this time. 

19. Illuminae / Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff
20. The Next Together / Lauren James
Total bill: SGD33.00

Not to forget, a book I bought at work, Popular @ One Km.
None other than....

21. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland &Through the Looking-Glass / Lewis Caroll (150th Anniversary Edition)
Total bill: SGD11.00 

I spent approximately SGD233 on books this month :""")
No Ragrets.

No Wrap-up this month because the amount of books I bought is way more impressive than that of books I read hahahais.

Goodnight :)

Books that would make great films/anime

I'm currently reading the Night Circus for the second time, and of course falling in love with it for the second time... especially a certain character. *cough*Celia Bowen*cough* 

Aside from that, I do agree with the Bookstagrammers that say this book would make a great movie. Yet at the same time.... I think it would make a better anime series. And then I started thinking of...

BOOKS THAT WOULD MAKE A GREAT 

FILM/ANIME SERIES

1. Night Circus / Erin Morgenstern

Night Circus is about, as you can see in the title. a circus that comes out only at night. Black and white striped tents filled with equally mysterious and good-looking illusionists, contortionists, magicians... 

A film adaptation of this book would be so pleasing for the eyes and mind. To be honest, any book set in the 1800's would make a good film. I can just imagine the hairstyles and the costumes; the mannerisms and the way the characters would speak. Also, the Murray twins always come into my head as anime characters somehow, so an anime series is my second thought :3 

2. The Strange & Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender / Leslye Walton

This one has beautiful writing and has so much potential to be a beautiful film, if given the right cast and made properly. BUT, being one of my favourite books of 2015, at the same time I do not want it to be made into a movie in case it gets ruined.

I stole this picture from my Instagram. Sorry. I don't have the books with me as they were borrowed :p

3. The Archived & The Unbound / Victoria Schwab

This series is, in one sentence, about the dead being kept in the Archive like books in a library, and a girl whose job as a Keeper is to make sure they stay locked. The whole time I was reading this duology this year, I thought of it as an anime series. Not sure why, but a good anime to me always consists of a mysterious otherworldly vibe. With ghosts. Yes.

4. The Lunar Chronicles / Marissa Meyer

When I was explaining the premise of this book series to one of my friends, he commented that it would be nice as an anime. Yes, he is correct. A mix of fairytales and Science fiction. Hmm.... if that doesn't sound like a good anime series I don't know what does. (Also Cinder would be so attractive as an anime character sigh)

5. The Mortal Instruments / Cassandra Clare

Surprise, surprise. Nope, I did't finish the series, and nope I didn't even enjoy the first 3 books that I got to read. But, it would make a really attractive and action-packed anime, one that would have my attention from start to finish. Also has the potential to be one of those long-running animes that everyone seems to watch and love, especially if there's the Infernal Devices trilogy added to the mix (; 

6. the Legend trilogy / Marie Lu

The only Dystopian series on the list. I wouldn't exactly say this would make a good movie franchise, because Hollywood might just ruin the series if you know what I mean... However it makes a nice anime series. It gave me the Code Geass and Gundam Seed vibes somehow, even though these books have no mecha involved. All that hoo-ha about war and the Republic, etc. And of course, the resemblance in my mind between June and Cagalli Yula Athha from Gundam Seed. 

OK, I'm tired, goodnight. 

Girls who "read" starter pack

In every part of the world, there are the real people, and the ones who are not. Any Booknerd can tell who is or who isn't really a Booknerd, despite it being a happy thing to see another person reading too...

But unfortunately there exists people in this community who are in it only for a while, only in this, thinking it's a trend, not feeling what we true Booknerds really go through )":

It isn't Top 5 Wednesday, but these are my top 5 books you can find on a "trend-reader" 's table. (Table because, they won't even have a bookcase or bookshelf.)

(if you are a true Booknerd but have these books anyway: as long as you have a decent bookcase and read a W I D E variety of other books, and not just for trend, then you know you're true)

1. Any book by a Youtuber.

*Omg Zoella's new book is so good, she's so pretty and so talented she can write too*

*I've been a huge fan of Connor Franta I'm so happy to get his book it's such an inspiration*

2. Any movie tie-in or books that have been turned into movies which are currently hot.

Most common is The Fault In Our Stars (very very very common); Paper Towns (very common); If I Stay (very common); City Of Bones; Fifty Shades Of Grey: usually being the movie cover with the movie actors on it. Usually something with cheesy romance or a hot dude. 

3. Any book that is currently on 20% discount at Popular bookstores, usually on the front tables.

Sorry to say, I love my job, but most girls who "read" get their books from the most commonly found bookstore, Popular. They don't venture far, they don't pay attention much to Young Adults and only see through Fiction, or the discount books at the front tables.

4. John freaking Green.

*Officially a John Green fan*

*John Green's books always get me and are on point*

*doesn't realise that the personalities of his characters have the same template*

*sometimes* 5. Non-fiction books about the author's traumatic story

*Sub-titles like "The story of a girl who self-harmed"*

*I can relate to this book so much, it's making me cry*

*bonus* 6. These authors:

Jodi Picoult | Mitch Albom | Nicholas Sparks | Sarah Dessen (rarely) | Lang Leav

Not saying their books are bad, just what people who only read once in a blue moon would pick up.

There may be more but I'm done. I got my 'research' from Instagram, HAH.
This was part rant, part truth. Thank you for listening.

Top 5 Wednesdays: Books I Did Not Finish

It's seldom I do not finish a book. Even if a book is really boring I always manage to pull myself through no matter how long it takes. So if I DNF (Did Not Finish) a book, that means I've given up on it, or the series, or the author...

5. Follow Me Down / Tanya Byrne

If you've read one of my previous posts about my weekend reads, you'd know how I was struggling with this one. Well, I completely gave up on it, halfway through. I just wasn't interested anymore.

4. Allegiant / Veronica Roth

Okay, so the first one was great, but the second one was just meh. And then I got to the third book and I just didn't want to bother anymore. It didn't help that I got spoiled for it everywhere I go!

3. Vivian Versus America / Katie Coyle

This is the sequel to Vivian Versus the Apocalypse, which I actually really enjoyed. But Vivian Versus America was just too boring... Did not understand a single shit at all. 

2. An Abundance of Katherines / John Green

Nope, just nope. I have no idea how I got through his other books, namely The Fault in Our Stars and Looking For Alaska. I can't be the only one who thinks all his characters are almost always the exact same. Don't understand why his books are enjoyed so much. (just my opinion)

1. City of Glass / Cassandra Clare

As if City of Ashes wasn't bad enough... This. Was. So. BORING. Even with all the action, sorry to say. Not sure if it's just me, but I feel like the first 3 books have been repetitive; same confusion the characters face, same scouring everywhere looking for a particular character, same truth-revealing that shocks our characters, same confrontation of the bad guy, same final battle... I made it through the book itself, but then I saw there was still 30 more pages of Prologue, and that was when I just threw it aside. NOPE.

And that's it for today, and I'm sorry again for not posting any pictures! I'm so used to having a words-ful blog, and I'm sick and not in the mood anyways )":

I just finished The End Of The World As We Know It by Iva-Marie Palmer, and it was like those violent-comedy kind of movies. Actually enjoyed it, and it was fun, but not exactly blown away. Maybe more in my November Wrap-Up?

And I have no idea which book to read next.

October 2015 Wrap-up

I read a total of 6 books this month. I know, I could have done better, but I was just too busy with work as usual. Don't say I didn't try, because I've spent half my lunch and dinner breaks reading!

Let's start from the top...

We Were Liars / E. Lockhart ⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆ (reread)
In one sentence: Read this book without knowing a single thing about it.

This was my favourite book of last year (": After rereading it, I understand my 2014 self now, because it still hits me the same way it did the first time I read it. Despite what everyone who's read it says, I never saw it coming and that's why it left an impact on me.

Love Fortunes & Other Disasters / Kimberly Karalius ⋆⋆⋆⋆

In one sentence: A town that is literally obsessed with love. 

I've done a full review for this, which you can read here.

Fire & Flood / Victoria Scott ⋆⋆ (reread) 

In one sentence: A deadly race with the grand prize of a Cure that can be remedy to any illness, with only the help of companions called Pandoras.

RANT COMING. The first time I read it, I enjoyed it but after a reread I caught many things that I did not like, and things that did not make sense. The writing was really cheesy, no joke, which of course made the main character unlikeable since it was first person. And the names were kinda terrible. Harper? Ransom and Levi? Jaxon with an X??? GUY???

I did not see any reason why the Triggers made such a big deal of Tella and her fox, which I honestly thought weren't all that great. The part where she chopped off her hair suddenly? It seemed so fake to me, just the author trying too hard to make the main character look like a 'badass'. It didn't work.

And the goddamn romance, what the hell? Did I miss the part where Guy saw what's so amazing about Tella??? I'll say this clearly: Tella freaking sucks. She's really lousy and weak and the whole book just makes me think that the author imagined herself into Tella, just delusional and thinking she's a badass heroine or something. 

AND THE REVELATION AT THE END DID NOT MAKE SENSE. Will not rant it here in case I spoil it for potential readers. But honestly now I'm really not sure if I wanna continue with the sequel or not.

Night Film / Marisha Pessl ⋆⋆⋆⋆

In one sentence: The daughter of a horror filmmaker is found dead, speculated as suicide, which journalist Scott Mcgrath doubts and seeks the truth like his life depends on it.

Full review also done, which can be read here :)

Survive the Night / Danielle Vega ⋆⋆

In one sentence: Casey is fresh out of rehab and is dragged to an underground rave where she finds her friend's body, mutilated and being fed on by rats.

This is a YA horror, which is actually sort of 'rare' for now. This book had a slow start, which left me wondering where the hell is the gore??? When the gore came, though, I was just stumped. That's it??? I was really expecting more.

The characters were obviously not well-made, what you'd call 'cookie-cutter characters' and it was full of horror tropes which I'm still not sure whether I appreciate or not. Unlike Night Film, that so-did-it-really-happen? ending just didn't work for this book.

The Sky Is Everywhere / Jandy Nelson ⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆
In one sentence: This is a book about a girl who knows she should be mourning her sister's death instead of falling in love.

So I gave this book 5 stars only because the love triangle got to me... Shall not elaborate on that and go too deep into my personal life, heh, but I loved everything about this one. I loved the intimacy between Lennie and her Gram and uncle Big, as well as Toby and Joe. Maybe I am biased because I love contemporary but at times I felt Lennie's life mirroring that of mine, past and present.

She lives with her grandmother and uncle, which reminded me of my years from 2012 to 2014. She was caught between someone who understood her pain, and someone who made her forget it. She is hopelessly in love even after a terrible loss... Like I am now. 

All these books mentioned above can be found at Popular (: